


The Tide Before the Storm

by Orichalcite



Series: Wrath of the Titans [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 22:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orichalcite/pseuds/Orichalcite
Summary: What if Percy had first met Nico and Bianca at the Lotus Hotel and Casino instead of Westover Hall? If even a small change can greatly affect how the future plays out, just what sort of world awaits our heroes now?





	1. A Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Anything written in italics represents either dreams, thoughts, flashbacks, or letters.

_“Wow, this place really has everything…”_

Percy had never been much of a reader thanks to the dyslexia that came with being a demigod, but right now he was hooked on a brochure detailing all the luxurious facilities located at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. For some reason, he seemed to be reading through it just fine, although the gorgeous pictures of mouth-watering banquets, brightly lit arcade machines, and cozy hot tubs practically spoke for themselves anyways.

The hot tubs in particular had caught his interest, probably because he was a son of Poseidon and therefore drawn towards water. Or perhaps it was because he had been traveling with Annabeth and Grover for gods know how long without much room for privacy. Either way, Percy decided it was time to leave the room and enjoy a nice hot bath. He left the room without a word since Annabeth was already too engrossed in her own corner playing some sort of 3D city-building game to notice, and Grover had already left for the arcade.

_"Hm, did I forget something? Something important? Maybe a good soak will help jog my memory.”_

As Percy walked out into the marble hallways of the hotel, he could hear faint voices and footsteps echoing from a distance. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to the noise, but as he continued to walk down the hallway, the voices were becoming more and more audible.

“Nico, come on! It’s not a race!” cried out the voice of a girl.

“Oh yeah, then why are you running too!?” yelled out a boy’s voice in response.

“I’m only running after you to stop you from doing something stupid!”

“You’re just jealous because the waiter got me a special drink made just for me!”

“That’s ridiculous! There’s no way you can even finish it anyways! You’ll just get a stomachache again like last time!”

“I knew it! You think just cause you’re older you—”

Percy had just reached the elevator doors and was about to press the up button when in the corner of his left eye he caught a glimpse of a young boy running through the halls holding a soda cup that must have been as wide, if not wider, as his head, necessitating the use of both his hands for proper support. The boy was too busy looking back at a girl running after him to notice anyone in front of him, that is until he suddenly jerked his head forwards and found himself on a collision course with Percy.

The boy attempted to stop himself before it was too late, but the sudden stop made him off-balanced, causing him to trip. Instinctively, he released his hands from the cup in order to thrust them out in front of him so as to brace himself for the fall, and within that split-second, Percy saw the boy’s face go from a look of shock to horror as he just realized what he had just done.

The mixture of soda and ice was propelled forwards by momentum, and pushed against the lid of the soda cup. This caused the lid to pop off, freeing the contents of the cup on an arc directed right at the other boy's face. Percy’s mouth was agape, in shock of the realization of what was about to happen. While he had fast demigod reflexes, they would not be fast enough, and while he had some control over water, the soda was diluted with far too many sugars for him to control properly. As a result, he did the only thing he could do in this situation: close his eyes and brace for impact.

Percy felt a wave of sugary liquid and ice smack against his face first before it crashed down over his torso. He gasped and immediately brought his hands to his face to quickly brush off whatever soda clung to his face instead of dripping down onto his shirt, which was just as sticky and wet.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” squeaked out the other boy after picking himself back up from the ground.

“Jeez, I think some of the soda went up my nose,” said Percy, who then promptly sneezed.

_"What the... What's that smell? Was that a... a pomegranate-flavored soda?!"_

Before Percy could say anything about that strange, yet strangely pleasant-smelling flavor of soda, the girl that had been chasing after the boy finally caught up to him.

“Nico! This is exactly why I told you to stop running in the hall!” screamed out the girl behind him.

The girl looked at Percy, mortified with what just happened, before taking out a handkerchief out from one of her shorts’ pockets.

“I’m so, so sorry about my brother! Here, take this.”

“Th-thanks…” muttered Percy. Even without using the handkerchief, he could already feel himself beginning to dry off, but this just left him with an uncomfortable feeling of stickiness all over his upper body.

_“Wait, this isn't a tissue. Is this... a handkerchief? People actually still use these?”_

He then got a good look of the two kids in front of him. The boy that had just gotten soda all over him looked nervous and was whispering another apology, one that was probably directed at both Percy himself and the girl next to him, who was apparently the boy’s sister. He had an olive complexion and black hair that could probably rival Percy's in terms of messiness. The boy definitely looked young, most likely younger than Percy considering he was about a head taller than the kid. The boy was also wearing what appeared to be an aviator’s jacket over a black shirt, although it didn’t seem like he had grown into the jacket just yet since the sleeves went well past his arms.

Suddenly, Percy’s eyes locked on with Nico’s; his sea-green eyes peered deeply into an abyss of dark brown. While they looked at each other for only a second at most, Percy felt as if time had slowed down in that moment.

_“What the... This kid... Why does he seem so different from the rest of the people in this hotel?"_

Nico was the first one to break eye contact, opting instead to stare at the floor out of embarrassment. Percy then looked at the girl. She definitely seemed to be the older of the two; she was about the same height as Annabeth. The two of them also looked similar enough to be siblings. They shared the same olive complexion, the same eye color, and the same shade of dark hair, albeit her hair was shoulder length and straightened out with a comb. Looking at her gave Percy the same weird feeling he got when he looked at her brother.

The girl was the one that broke the awkward silence.

“Again, I am so sorry for what my brother did. Um, my name’s Bianca, and this is my brother,” she brought a finger up to her brother’s cheek and poked it, “Nico.”

“Please let me make this up to you somehow. If you want, you can come up to our room and clean up properly in the bathroom.”

“Oh, uh, actually I was just headed to the hot tubs myself. I—”

Nico interrupted before Percy could finish.

“Please… It's my fault, I should have looked at where I was going so I should be the one making it up to you... Um, also we’ve also got a jacuzzi in our bathroom, so—”

Percy had almost instantly zoned out at the mention of a jacuzzi.

_“Wait, what!? They seriously have their own jacuzzi? Wow, their parents must be loaded... Well... I guess I should at least see what their room looks like then...”_

“Alright, alright. I’ll come with you,” said Percy with a slight grin.

“Oh yeah, I guess I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name’s Percy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for coming this far! I hope you'll enjoy this story. Feel free to let me know of any errors in my writing. I don't have that much experience with writing since this is the first time I've ever posted a story online for other people to read, but I do want this story to be the best it can be. Thanks again.


	2. Uncertainty

After the elevator arrived, Percy followed Bianca and Nico through the doors. As Bianca pressed the button for the 13th floor, Nico and Percy were awkwardly standing next to each at the back of the elevator, neither one knowing what to say or if they should say something. Once again, it was Bianca who broke the silence.

“Sorry about your shirt. Our bathroom also has a washing machine that doubles as a dryer. We've never really used it since housekeeping comes every so often to pick up our dirty laundry, but it's great if you need something cleaned up quick. Also, if you need something to wear, I'm sure Nico will be perfectly happy to lend you one of his shirts, right Nico?”

She looked over to her little brother with a somewhat stern glare. What she just said was more of a command rather than a real question, and Nico just nodded silently as he continued to stare anywhere but Percy’s direction.

“Thanks, but I might be too big for one of his shirts,” replied Percy.

Nico couldn't help but say something this time.

“I’m not that short,” he grumbled while still not looking at the other boy.

Bianca giggled as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. When the three of them walked out, Nico shot Percy a question.

“What even is ‘Camp Half-Blood’ anyways?”

This was not a question Percy was prepared to answer, and not just because he knew he couldn’t just go around telling random strangers the truth about the Greek gods, but also because for some reason he was having trouble recalling his recent memories. It was as if there was a dense fog had settled in his mind. This was probably something he should have been very worried about, but for some reason he didn't feel the need to care. This place was just way too much fun!

“Oh… uh… It's… It's a summer camp out in New York State. It's a pretty cool place I guess, but not as cool as this place.”

“New York? Oh wow, that's pretty far away from here,” said Bianca.

“How about you guys? Where are you from?” asked Percy.

Bianca and Nico suddenly stopped walking as if they really needed to think long and hard for the answer to his question. However, when the two of them tried to think of a response, nothing came. Ten seconds passed. Then ten more. After half a minute of thinking, the two siblings looked at one another, only to find the same look of confusion on each other's faces.

 _“Why?! Why can't I answer a question as simple as where are we from?”_ thought Bianca. She was starting to feel as if her windpipe was being constricted; she wanted to say something, anything, but nothing was coming out. This was the first time she had felt genuine fear in a long time.

Suddenly, Nico blurted out, “Oh! Before we went to the hotel we were in D.C., right Bianca?”

“Y-yeah we were in D.C,” said Bianca, although she seemed unsure of herself—when she had spoke, she had been scratching her neck hard enough to leave visible marks.

Percy was confused with how strange the two were just acting but did not press the question any further after seeing how uncomfortable they were.

_“Well that was… more than just a little weird. Why did it take them so long to answer? Maybe going up with them to see their room was not a good idea after all…”_

Despite his doubts, Percy continued to follow the siblings until the three of them reached a door labeled ‘Room N13-17'.

“Well Percy, we're finally here. Yeah, I know. This hotel is so big that sometimes getting back to our room can be a big hassle,” said Bianca with a smile. While the smile seemed genuine enough, Percy couldn't help but feel an odd tension in the air now. However, as soon as Bianca opened the door, all of his newfound concerns were pushed to the back of his mind as he laid eyes on the fanciest room he had seen so far in this hotel.

The room was absolutely massive, and not just for a hotel room either. It was at least twice the size of the entire apartment he had lived in back in Manhattan. For a moment, Percy felt his heart beating slightly faster when he thought about the apartment, but the feeling passed so quickly that he paid it no mind.

The room's floor was decked out with an intricate black and white tile set that formed a mosaic-like image of white wolves dancing underneath the full moon, surrounded in a sea of darkness. The walls also kept to the same black and white aesthetic—there were white silhouettes of deer playfully prancing about, bats soaring through the night sky, and crocodiles sleeping peacefully (well either that or they were waiting for their next prey; he couldn't really tell due to the absence of any facial features). Comparing this room to the room that he, Annabeth, and Grover had been given was like comparing a condominium to a penthouse suite. Truth be told, he felt more than a little jealous.

“Oh, if you think this is cool, check this out!” exclaimed Nico.

He flicked a switch, turning off all the lights in the room, along with a switch next to it. The second switch lit up the dark room with multiple points of colorful lights that depicted various constellations slowly swirling around the ceiling. There also seemed to be some music playing in the background, although Percy didn't recognize the tune. Perhaps it was some sort of lullaby?

“It's beautiful…” said Percy, who seemed to be in a sort of trance-like state. He only broke out of it about a minute later when Bianca turned off the display and turned the lights back on.

Bianca pointed to a set of large marble doors, “I'm sure you'll be equally pleased with the bathroom. It's over to the left on my side of the room”.

* * *

Neither Nico nor Bianca accompanied him to the bathroom for obvious reasons, but even if they did, there definitely would be no shortage of space in here. In fact, it sort of reminded him of the bathroom he had back in the Poseidon’s Cabin, except instead of smelling the scent of a sea breeze, Percy smelt the scent of… daffodils? Roses? Well, it was some kind of flower. Probably. Hey, it's not like he'd be able to tell by instinct; he was the son of Poseidon, not Demeter. Plus, plants were more Grover's thing than Percy's.

 _“Looks like Nico wasn't lying about the jacuzzi,”_ thought Percy with a smile on his face as he drew himself up a bath. While the water ran, he took off his dirty t-shirt and chucked it into the washing machine. It was at that moment he heard knocking on the door.

“Hey, I'm just going to leave a shirt inside on the towel rack if you need it. Let me know if I can come in,” said Nico.

“Go ahead. I’m still running the water.”

Nico quickly opened the door and dumped the shirt over the towel rack almost just as quickly. In fact, Percy saw him almost trip over himself while trying to leave. It was almost like what had happened in the hallway.

_“He really needs to learn how to slow down.”_

Percy breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the jacuzzi was filled with enough water, filling the room with hot steam. He was finally going to get the hot tub experience he had been planning to get… exactly how long ago? Oh well, it’s not like it mattered anymore now that he was in the tub.

_“Hm, I wonder what these buttons do.”_

The first button was quite pleasant since it caused a bunch of soap bubbles to appear and made the water smell like cinnamon. Now that was a smell he could properly identify; he had just eaten a cinnamon bun for breakfast last…

He frowned as struggled to remember when he ate that bun. While his mind was preoccupied, his accidentally pressed another button. This one shot a stream of hot water onto his back.

Percy yelped in surprise, and almost instantly recoiled to the other side of the tub.

_“Di immortales! That felt almost as hot as when that chihua—, er, chimera, tried to roast me alive back at the Gateway Arch. Wait. What? When… When was I attacked by a chimera, and why would I want to visit some crummy arch? Oh right... Annabeth. She’s such an architecture nerd… But then... Why are we in Vegas now?”_

Unfortunately, the answer to that question still seemed to be out of reach for now. He sighed as he stepped out of the jacuzzi, his skin drying within mere seconds. His t-shirt was still tumbling in the machine, so he was now going to have to settle for one of Nico's shirts. The shirt that Nico left on the rack had a design was actually pretty good, well at least Percy thought it was. It was a Hawaiian shirt that depicted the picture of multiple white lotuses floating in turquoise water, and yes he could tell those flowers were lotuses. Or maybe they were water lilies. Alright, maybe he didn't know for sure, but weren't they just the same thing anyways? Why did plants have to be so complicated?

However, when he went over to reach for the doorknob he could hear the faint sound of someone sobbing. He hesitated to open the door at first, not wanting to intrude at a potentially very private moment, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with how the two siblings reacted when he asked where they were from. While he had been really enjoying his time here in the hotel, and still was to an extent, something about this whole situation was just not right. So he opened the door.

"Bianca?"


	3. Beneath the Surface

“It doesn't make sense… It just doesn't make any sense!” cried out Bianca as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. Why was she unable to remember the answers to basic questions about her own life? With just one question, Percy had unearthed a hollowness inside her that seemed to grow deeper and deeper the more she searched her mind for answers. Still, despite her distress, she didn’t want her little brother to see her crying, so she closed her eyes and placed a hand over the right side of her face.

Nico was sitting next to Bianca on a black leather couch and he was at a loss for words. He wanted to say something that would comfort her, but he was just as confused and scared as she was. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her cry. In fact, there was a lot he couldn't seem to remember. When he had told Percy that he and his sister had been in D.C., he had no idea if that was even true. It was just the first thing that came to mind, and he had no idea why.

There were just so many gaps in his memory, and he didn't know why. Just how long have they been staying here? Why did he live in a hotel room with just his sister? Where were their parents? Thinking about his absent parents in particular had filled him with more heartache than the other questions. The only detail about them he could remember was that they had a lawyer that would make visits to the hotel from time to time, which was very strange now that he thought about it. Why did their parents never come to visit? Did they not love them?

“Bianca?”

The girl nearly jumped out of her seat as soon as she heard Percy. She quickly wiped her face with her arm before turning around and giving Percy a weak smile.

“Hey, that shirt looks really good on you.”

Nico also turned around and took a quick look at Percy before telling him, “You can keep it if you want, it's not really my style anyways,” as his cheeks reddened ever so slightly.

“Oh, um, thanks. But uh… are you guys okay? I thought… well I thought I heard someone crying.”

Bianca bit her lip. Was it really that obvious? Either way, sure, Percy seemed to be nice enough, but she still felt uncomfortable about telling him about how she and her brother were apparently suffering from a serious case of amnesia. Besides, what could he even do about it anyways?

“Thanks for asking, but it's nothing serious. I was just thinking about… a movie I watched.”

“Oh? What movie?”

Bianca groaned mentally. Why did Percy have to be so nosy?

“It was um… a movie called Snow White and the… the…”

Percy finished for her, “The Seven Dwarfs? I haven't seen that in a really long time.” He then raised an eyebrow and asked, “It made you cry?”

Of course, he didn't want to admit he had also cried over that movie back then. That mirror was scary! Plus, he was only three at the time, and as far as he was concerned, being three was practically the same as being a baby, just with less diapers and the ability to chew food.

“Well… I… I was just thinking about how horrible it was that she was forced to flee her home just because her stepmother considered her existence to be too inconvenient and wanted her dead. If she never met those dwarfs, she would have been truly alone and helpless…”

Percy’s eyes widened when Bianca gave him that explanation, and all he could say in responses was, “Oh... I've… never really thought about it that way.” He didn't like how that story sounded strangely familiar to him.

Nico stared in awe of his sister's ability to improvise so quickly. However, he knew his sister still had a lot on her mind and that it was taking a toll on her. She had always protected him, at least as far as he could remember. Of course, considering their current situation, he couldn't remember very much at all, but people always say it's the thought that counts, right? Maybe she'd feel better if she got some time to think without getting distracted by Percy, so he spoke up.

“Hey Percy! I still feel like I haven’t completely made up for what happened back downstairs. Let me show you a cool secret I found in this hotel! Come on, it'll be a lot of fun, I promise!”

This piqued Percy’s interest, although more so because it gave him an excuse to leave this awkward conversation rather than an interest in the secret itself.

“A secret? Sure, why not? That sounds interesting.”

Nico turned to his sister, gave her a grin, and said, “Sorry Bianca, but you can't come. It's just going to be me and Percy. Plus, there’s no way three people can fit in there.”

Bianca gave Nico a soft smile and mouthed the words, _“Thank you.”_

* * *

“So, can you at least give me a hint of what this secret is? I think you said something about it not being able to fit three people, right?”

Nico shook his head, “That’s all you’re going to get. Come on, we’re almost there!”

At first it appeared that Nico had led Percy to a dead end. There was a marble wall in front of them with a small vent at the top. On their left was a storage room, and on their right, there was a weird painting of a bunch of sailors painted in bright neon colors, laughing. Nico crouched down beneath the painting and seemed to be feeling the wall underneath it until Percy heard a faint clicking noise. He then got up and lifted the painting, revealing what looked like a tiny elevator.

“What’s that supposed to be?” asked Percy. Suddenly, he recalled Nico’s comment about the secret not being able to fit three people, and his eyes widened.

“Wait a second, do you want us to actually ride this thing?”

Nico had a mischievous grin on his face as he replied, “Yeah, and don’t worry. Me and Bianca have used it plenty of times before. She said it was called a dumbwaiter, but I didn’t believe her at first. It is kind of a mean name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. You better not let anyone in the dining room hear you say that word unless you’ve got a sudden craving for spit,” remarked Percy.

“Blech, Percy, that’s gross!”

The younger boy then pressed a button to open the dumbwaiter’s doors, and hopped into the lift, tucking his legs in as close to his body as possible with his arms.

“Come on in! There’s only one stop, but it’s a really cool place.”

Percy was a bit hesitant to follow Nico into the dumbwaiter. Could it really support the two of them? Still, he was curious as to where this thing went. Aside from the button to open the doors, there was only one other button on the side, and no buttons in the dumbwaiter itself. Percy climbed into the small lift carefully so as not to accidentally step on the other boy in the process. It was a tight fit, but they managed to make it work.

Nico then reached out and pressed the other button. He quickly retracted his hand before the doors closed, leaving the two boys shrouded in darkness as the sounds of rattling chains echoed inside the box. For some reason, Nico was starting to feel a little anxious as the dumbwaiter slowly descended. It wasn't because of the darkness, he was sure of that, as he was never particularly scared of the dark like most kids. He had made this trip with Bianca at least a dozen times already but taking the dumbwaiter down with Percy was making him feel very aware of how little space there truly was in here, especially when shared between two people. They were just so close to one another...

“This thing is really taking its sweet time, isn't it? Could you imagine if it just suddenly stopped working? I really don't this rusty metal box doesn't become my coffin,” said Percy. While Nico couldn't see the other boy, he could feel him fidgeting around nervously. In a strange way, Nico felt somewhat more relaxed knowing that Percy was also feeling anxious.

“Don’t worry, it’s totally safe! Also, I'm sure Bianca would come find us if we're out for too long anyways.”

Thankfully, while Percy had tempted the Fates by bringing up the possibility of getting trapped with Nico in the dumbwaiter, the two of them arrived at their destination without any problems.

* * *

When the doors reopened, Percy could hardly believe what he was seeing; the place where Nico had brought him looked nothing like the other rooms in the hotel. This room appeared to be abandoned; it was dimly lit thanks to the few ceiling lights that remained in operation, although even some of those lights flickered every so often. Much of the room’s space was occupied by long rows of wooden tables containing trays caked in what appeared to be dirt.

There were also numerous water pipes that ran across the room. Percy could hear the sound of rushing water, but clearly none of that water was being used in this room. Also, those weren’t the only pipes in the room; located at the back of the room there was a big empty vat connected to a large pipeline that split off into a set of smaller pipes somewhere outside the room. Other than that, the only connection this room seemed to have with the rest of the building was a single, slightly-rusted metal door.

“Do you have any idea what this place is?” asked Percy.

Nico shrugged, “Not really. I think it was probably used to grow plants, but I don’t know what they were growing here. I just like this room cause it’s so different from the rest of the hotel. It’s also a great hiding spot!”

“What about that door? Have you ever gone through it?”

Nico shook his head. “Bianca said it was locked from the inside.”

Well that was a problem. Percy had a strong feeling that beyond that door were the answers to all these questions he’d been having ever since entering the hotel. In fact, the more he looked at the door, his desire to go through it only grew stronger. It was as if the door, or rather something beyond it, was calling to him.

_“I’ve got to find a way through that lock somehow… Wait, could I use Riptide to cut it open? But Nico’s here… I can’t just take my sword out in front of him… Wait! The Mist! The Mist should be able to disguise my sword. Maybe if I’m lucky, he’ll think it’s some kind of key or lockpick. Alright, I’ve just gotta act natural…”_

Percy flashed Nico a quick smile and said, “Well then it looks like today’s your lucky day because I’ve got a lockpick!”

“Really!? Awesome! I've always wanted to see what was behind that door! Bianca is going to be so jealous!”

“Mm-hmm. But there's one catch. I don't think your sister would appreciate it if I showed you how to pick locks, so if you want me to open this door, I need you to stand back and look the other way.”

Nico quickly agreed without hesitation and turned away from the other boy.

 _“Perfect. That should cover for me just in case the Mist makes Riptide look like a saw or something,”_ thought Percy as he turned to the door.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide and held with one hand balled into a fist that made it look like he was about to stab something. He then placed the tip of the pen cap over the very slight gap between the door and the door frame. The plan was to pull Riptide slightly back so that he could uncap it, allowing the blade grow through the gap. He would then grasp the sword with both hands and bring it down with as much strength as he could muster, hopefully slicing through the lock. At least, that was the plan. He had never tried cutting something made of metal with Riptide before, so hopefully this would work. If not, well he would have to hope this wouldn't break his sword.

After uncapping Riptide, the blade grew through the gap just as planned. Percy took a deep breath as he grasped the sword with both hands, silently praying to his father that he would be able to cut through the lock. He began to swing the blade up and down several times, moving it farther up and down between each interval in order to build up momentum. Finally, Percy brought Riptide down on the lock as hard as he could in one clean swipe, slicing through it in one fell swoop. He breathed a sigh of relief after a quick inspection of Riptide had revealed no immediately noticeable dents.

“Percy! That was so cool! You never told me you were going to cut the lock with a sword!”

As soon as Percy heard what Nico said, he felt his heart almost stop.

_“What!? Did he just see Riptide's true form? How!?”_

In a panic, Percy quickly recapped Riptide and turned around. So many thoughts were swimming in his mind that he was having trouble figuring out what he should say, so of course, he just did what came most naturally to him, which meant falling back on pure twelve-year-old instincts.

Percy shot Nico a glare and pointed an accusatory finger at the other boy before yelling out, “Hey! You said you wouldn't look, you liar! That was super uncool, Nico!”

Nico had a look of faux innocence on his face as he replied, “I know, I know, sorry Percy. Buuut…” He then pulled out two of his fingers that he had hidden in his back pocket and said with a mischievous grin, “I had my fingers double crossed the whole time!”

Oh. Well if he had his fingers double crossed the entire time, there was nothing that could be done about it. That was sound logic right there. Well, at very least it was just as sound as the logic behind Percy's expectation that Nico wouldn't look at him trying to “pick” the door's lock just because the other boy had promised not to. Percy had a look of defeat on his face as he sighed and pocketed Riptide. Either way, somehow Nico was able to see Riptide's true form, which was something Percy would have to discuss with him later.

“Alright… just… just don't tell Bianca about it okay? I don't know if your sister would be okay with the fact that I have a sword.”

“Don't worry Percy! Your secret is safe with me!” declared Nico as he showed Percy his palms as proof that there was no double cross this time. “You looked so cool with that sword! You looked like one of those heroes in my Mythomagic cards!”

“Mythomagic? What's that?”

Nico beamed as soon as Percy asked.

“It's only the best game ever! It's a card game based on Greek mythology with loads of cool heroes, gods, and monsters. I have a bunch of cards back in my room. You should play with a game with me! I'll even lend you a deck!”

“Ha ha, really?” said Percy as he brought a hand to the back of his neck. Truthfully, he wasn't all that interested in playing a card game; he never was very good at following rules.

“M-maybe some other time then. Anyways, I've got the door open now. This hotel is hiding a dirty little secret right through this door, I can feel it!”

Nico nodded with a huge grin on his face as he obediently followed Percy beyond the door. This was so exciting! It felt like the start of one great big adventure, and who knows, maybe he could even become as cool as Percy once this was all over?


	4. Dreams

As Percy walked through the door, he was beginning to notice something very odd about this situation. When he had cut down the lock on the door, surely that should have made a loud noise that would attract someone’s attention, but as far as he could see, this place was empty with not even a single guard in sight.

Percy turned to the boy next to him and whispered, “Nico, we have to be careful. Stay behind me, okay?”

The younger boy was startled with how serious Percy sounded considering he seemed so confident only a minute ago, but he nodded. He didn’t know why the other boy was so spooked. There didn’t seem to be any guards here, which is a good thing when trying to sneak into a restricted area, right? Still, out of the two of them, Percy was clearly the expert in these matters. After all, he was the one with the cool sword.

The two of them walked around the hallway in silence for a while, occasionally passing by a door every so often, and there was still no sign of anyone else on this floor besides them. Percy hadn’t attempted to enter a room just yet. Considering how he had to break a lock to even get into this hallway, he’d likely have to use Riptide again to open these doors too, and there was no telling what they would find behind them.

Suddenly, the two heard a shrill creak echo across the hallway followed by slow footsteps. This caused the pair to immediately tense up. Percy crouched down while motioning for Nico to do the same. While the footsteps did not sound very close by, Percy was having difficulty determining from what direction they were coming from. He crept up to a corner and took a quick peek, but there was nothing there.

Yet only a few seconds later, the sound of another door creaking open echoed through the hallway, only this time the sound seemed to be coming from a much closer source. It was the door right behind them. In a panic, Percy reached into his pocket for Riptide, although he didn’t uncap it just yet. Nico tried to put on a brave face, but he could feel his heart beating faster out of fear of who, or perhaps _what_ , was about to emerge from the door. Unlike Percy, he didn’t have a weapon he could use, nor had he ever been in a fight before.

A tall man lumbered emerged from the door in front of them. Percy and Nico’s hearts skipped a beat as soon as they saw him. He had on a terrifying black gas mask that covered his entire face and was holding a pair of long, sharp shears in his left hand. He was also wearing a set of dirty blue overalls over a bright green jumpsuit and was covered from head to toe in soot. Basically, he was the world’s creepiest gardener.

Percy quickly pushed Nico behind him and was about to uncap Riptide, except instead of attacking, the masked man simply waved at them.

“Uh, hello?” asked Percy nervously before deciding to wave back.

The masked man said something back, but because of his gas mask, his voice was too muffled for either of them to understand what he was saying. He then slowly walked away without closing the door. A pleasant smoky smell emanated from inside the room.

The two boys both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Percy, that was so cool! You just stepped out to face him without any hesitation! You really are a Mythomagic hero come to life!” exclaimed Nico.

Percy blushed slightly at that compliment, “Well… I don’t know about that. In the end, there was nothing to worry about, so what I did didn’t really matter.”

Nico shook his head, “Of course it matters! You acted like a true hero!”

Percy couldn’t help but smile bashfully. _“A true hero.”_ This was definitely going to inflate his ego, but honestly it was nice to feel so appreciated. However, his smile slowly turned into a frown as he thought about that masked man. Something wasn’t right.

_“Hold on. Why would he even need to wear a gas mask in the first place?”_

His eyes widened as he came to a chilling realization.

“Nico, we have to get out of here right now! Cover your nose!”

Without a second thought, he grabbed the younger boy’s hand and ran while using his other hand to pull up his shirt to cover his own nose. Nico had yelped in surprise when Percy grabbed him, but he obeyed. Unfortunately for them, clouds of smoke were now billowing out into the halls, obscuring their vision. It also didn’t help that every passage in this hallway seemed to look identical to one another.

_“Di immortales! This place might as well be a maze! Come on, think... Maybe I can try sensing direction of the water flow in these pipes…”_

Percy came to a sudden stop, “Hold on Nico. I—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Percy noticed that Nico was barely awake. He was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open, but his eyelids were constantly drooping. In addition, the hand he had been using to cover his nose now lay limply at his side. Percy cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t he noticed?

“Sorry…” whispered Nico. His eyes closed shut and he began to collapse, but Percy managed to catch him over his shoulder before he fell.

The additional weight over his shoulder forced Percy to stumble back into the wall. The clouds of smoke appeared to be much denser now, and his breaths were becoming more labored. He could smell a distinct scent of sweetness that reminded him of blueberry pancakes.

_“N-no… I can’t fall asleep here… Not now…”_

Percy attempted to right himself while still carrying Nico over his shoulder, but he was already starting to feel drowsy himself. He only managed to move a couple of steps further before his legs gave out, causing him to fall on his knees. Despite his best efforts, he could not find the willpower to stand up again. His mind felt cloudy, and each desperate breath he took was only bringing him closer to sleep, until finally, he fell asleep against the wall with Nico at his side.

* * *

_“Good morning, mio bambino. Did you have a nice dream?”_

_Nico yawned as he stretched his arms out. When he opened his eyes, he saw the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen starting down at him. She had an olive complexion, dark brown eyes, and silky black hair just like him. There was a gentle smile plastered across her dark red lips. Nico felt warm and fuzzy just looking at her._

_“Mamma?” questioned Nico. Of course, he already knew the answer._

_His mother giggled, “Who else could I be? You haven’t forgotten me already, have you?”_

_He vigorously shook his head, “No, never.”_

_Smiling, she leaned over and softly planted a kiss against his cheek, leaving a slight imprint of lipstick, before gently running her fingers across his hair._

_“Your father will be coming home soon, you know. When I told Bianca, she practically leapt out of bed! She’s been by the window ever since.”_

_“Papà!?” Nico’s eyes widened in excitement, and he gave his mother a big toothy grin._

_“Yes, mio bambino," said his mother as she placed her hand over his, "Shall we go join Bianca and wait for him?”_

* * *

_“Percy! Breakfast is ready!”_

_When Percy opened his eyes, he found himself lying down on his bed back in Manhattan. He could already smell the mouth-watering scent of bacon as it traveled all the way from the kitchen. That was a good incentive to get up from bed._

_Percy quickly made his way to the kitchen, but before he could take a seat, his mom took one look at him and said, “Hold on. You did brush your teeth, didn’t you?”_

_He looked at his mother sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, “Whoops. Sorry, everything just smelled so good, I forgot.”_

_After rushing over to the bathroom and getting his dental hygiene taken care of, he returned to the kitchen. As he sat down, he took in the sights and smells of all the food his mother had whipped up: scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, French toast, breakfast sausages, and of course, his mother’s famous blueberry pancakes. There was also a glass of O.J. to wash it down. Oh, and as the sweet cherry on top, Smelly Gabe was nowhere in sight. What a great way to start the morning._

_“So, where’s Gabe?” asked Percy as he placed a pancake on his plate, “Not that I’m complaining of course.”_

_Sally smiled, “Don’t worry, we won’t be seeing him again. Yesterday I just found out that I got a book deal with a major publisher, so I told Gabe that I didn’t have to put up with him anymore and kicked him out.”_

_Percy nearly choked on a strip of bacon in surprise, “Ack! Seriously? That’s great, Mom! Congratulations! You never deserved to be stuck with a guy like Gabe.”_

_He took a swig of orange juice as his mother said something, but this time her voice seemed distorted, as if she was trying to speak while submerged under water._

_“Mom? Are you okay? I can’t hear you.” asked Percy, except not really. His mouth moved, but no sound came out._

_He blinked and suddenly his mother was gone. His eyes widened, and he dropped his fork as he got up from his chair. He quickly scanned the room to see where she could have gone before calling out for her. There was no response. Fear was starting to settle in his heart._

_When he blinked again, he was no longer in his apartment. Instead, he was out on an open field, standing in the rain. From behind, he heard a beast cry out in rage. Percy turned around and saw his mother in the clutches of the Minotaur. He gritted his teeth and called out to his mother while fishing through his pockets for Riptide, but it wasn’t there._

_“Mom! Hold on! I’m going to save you! I promise!”_

_He charged at the Minotaur with tears in his eyes. He had no grand plan to somehow defeat it with only his bare hands, but he wasn’t about to let his mother get taken away without a fight. Yet before he could get anywhere near the monster, the Minotaur vanished in a shower of golden light, taking his mother with it._

_Percy fell to his knees as he shouted out to the heavens, demanding the Olympians to bring back his mother until his voice was hoarse. In response, a crack of lightning lit up the sky, and it appeared as if the heavens had just opened up the floodgates since rain was now pouring relentlessly onto the land, as if they were trying to drown out his speech. At the end of his tirade, he collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, and allowed himself to get swallowed up by the rapidly rising sea of rainwater._

_Percy refused to move and just floated around listlessly, allowing the currents to take him wherever. He didn’t care what happened to him now that his mother was taken from him. However, Just as he was about to close his eyes and fall into an eternal slumber, he saw a brilliant flash of light glowing on the surface of the water. As he stared into the light, he felt filled with a renewed sense of hope, hope that his mother was not yet truly lost, and began to swim towards the light._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Sorry if this was a weak chapter compared to the others. I had some trouble (writer's block) while writing it, but hopefully it was still an enjoyable read. The next chapter is essentially the end of what I consider the "prologue" of this story, so the chapter after that one is when the "real plot" will begin.


	5. We'll Meet Again

_“Mom…”_

As Percy began to slowly awaken, his mother was all he could think about. After all, she was practically the whole reason why he was on this crazy quest in the first place. Well that, and the fact that he was pretty sure that if he didn’t find the Master Bolt in time, Zeus would almost certainly obliterate him and then have him sent down to the deepest pits of Tartarus for a crime he never committed. Experiencing death followed by eternal torture were two things that were definitely not on Percy’s to-do list.

One thing that was on his to-do list, however, was getting out of this hotel. He looked up to the ceiling and noticed that the sprinklers were on, spraying droplets of water in every direction. The lotus smoke had dissipated, and had now been replaced with a cool, refreshing mist. While Percy wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, apparently it was enough time for the sprinklers to cover every inch of his body in water; he was soaked to the bone. Of course, as the son of Poseidon, he wasn't bothered by this.

The boy next to him, however, was probably not going to be nearly as happy about waking up in a set of wet clothes, but for the time being, Nico still seemed to be sleeping peacefully. His head was rested over Percy’s shoulder, and he had a soft smile on his face; the older boy wondered what he could be dreaming about. Still, while he felt a little guilty about waking Nico up, he needed to get out of this hotel as soon as possible and continue his quest. Percy attempted to gently shake the other boy awake, but Nico wouldn’t budge.

 _“What can I do to wake him up?”_ he wondered. As he thought back to how his mother would use to wake him up whenever he didn't feel like going to school, he remembered one method that always managed to wake him up without fail. Percy gently pushed Nico’s head away from his shoulder so that it would instead lean against the wall. This allowed him to get in front of the other boy while crouching. He then placed his hands hovering over Nico’s sides and let his fingers do the work.

It took only a few seconds of tickling until Nico was wide awake, but unfortunately for Percy, this worked a little too well. The sudden sensation made Nico jerk his head forwards in surprise, netting him a direct hit on the older boy’s nose with his forehead. Percy yelped and recoiled in pain. While Nico hadn’t managed to break his nose or cause any bleeding, the pain radiated from his nose across his face, making it feel like he had just been punched in the head by the Minotaur.

“Percy!” Nico hissed, “What was that for? And why is there water everywhere?”

Nico was red in the face as he placed his hands over his sides protectively. While he hadn’t meant to hurt the older boy, this may as well have been karmic justice. Sure, Percy may be a hero, but that didn’t mean he had tickling rights. Only Bianca had those. He was also in a state of confusion. It seemed like a lot had happened since he fell asleep. There was a series of images swirling around in his head, but it was difficult to tie them together.

“S-sorry,” muttered Percy as he picked himself up from the floor. He extended a hand out to Nico to help the other boy up. It was accepted, albeit somewhat hesitantly.

“Um… I’m not too sure. All I remember was we got caught in the gas cloud and fell asleep. When I woke up, the sprinklers were on. I guess the water helped wake me up. You were still asleep though, so I had to do something extra to help you wake up.”

All of what Percy had said was true, but he made sure to leave out his suspicions that this hotel was related in some way to Greek mythology. Sure, it was possible that Nico was a demigod just like him considering that he could see Riptide’s true form, but he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to tell them about all that. Maybe him seeing Riptide was just a fluke. Besides, they were currently thousands of miles away from Camp Half-Blood, and Zeus was not a patient god. Percy made a mental note to discuss with Annabeth and Grover later since they had way more experience with this sort of thing than he did.

Nico, however, was skeptical of Percy’s explanation, and frowned. “You’re hiding something Percy. There's a lot more going on than you're telling me.”

Percy planned to play it cool, “Oh yeah? What makes you say that?”

“You have a pen that can turn into a sword. Isn’t that magic?”

Oh damn, that was a good point. How was he going to explain that?

“I… Well… You see, my pen… It’s… It’s got a lot of space on the inside.”

Yep, that was Percy’s answer. It’s not magic, it’s just got a lot of space on the inside, whatever that means. That’s exactly how a 5-inch ballpoint pen could turn into a 30-inch blade. It made perfect sense. He honestly had meant to say that the blade was extremely compact, but in the scramble to spit out an answer, he fumbled his words. Then again, Percy was pretty sure Nico would not have bought that explanation either.

Nico crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, “What? How does that even work? Your sword is like ten times the size of that pen. I’m not an idiot, Percy.”

The older boy sighed and facepalmed as he had now been backed into a corner all because he had the believed this kid wouldn’t break their promise and look at him “picking” a lock. Reluctantly, Percy then said, “Fine. I’ll tell you what’s going on once we get out of here. Your sister is probably wondering what’s taking us so long, so let’s hurry.”

As Percy was about to turn around and head back to the dumbwaiter, Nico stopped him by tugging at his shirt and said, “Wait! I want you to promise me you’ll tell me the truth!” The younger boy then stuck out a pinky and looked straight into Percy’s sea green eyes.

The son of Poseidon couldn’t help but laugh. First crossed fingers and now pinky swears?

“Seriously Nico? You want me to do a pinky promise? What are you, eight?”

“I’m ten,” muttered Nico; his face was flushed red in embarrassment.

This admission only made Percy laugh harder.

“Oh, I see. I guess you are still the right age range to be in elementary school, which explains a lot,” Percy teased.

However, before Nico could reply, Percy linked one of his pinkies with Nico’s and said, “Okay, okay. I pinky promise that I’ll tell you the truth later. Is that good enough for you?”

The younger boy had been caught off guard by this but nodded slowly. Even though his clothes were damp, in that moment he felt strangely warm. On their way back to the dumbwaiter, Nico remained silent and focused his gaze at the floor. His suspicions grew, however, when both his and Percy’s clothes seemed to have suddenly dried up during the ride back to the 13th floor.

* * *

When Percy and Nico stepped out of the dumbwaiter, it was as if they had stepped into an entirely different building. First, the sprinklers on this floor had been activated as well, concealing the bottom half of the hallway in a fine layer of mist. The constant spray of water had also ruined every painting on this floor, dissolving them from their frames and forming a disgusting multicolored ooze that occasionally bubbled as it dripped from the walls onto the floor. When the two of them stepped off the dumbwaiter, they could hear the splashing of water as their feet touched the floor.

 _“Wow,”_ thought Percy as he surveyed the damage, _“did I seriously activate the sprinklers for the entire building by accident?”_

“You’re back! I was about to go down looking for you guys!”

It was Bianca. When the boys turned around to face her, they saw that she was now carrying a cream-colored umbrella shaped in such a way as to resemble a flower.

“What took you two so long? It’s been chaos across the whole hotel. The sprinklers just started turning on and for some reason the hotel staff couldn’t find a way to turn them off, so they’ve been handing out umbrellas to everyone.”

Percy spoke up first, “Bianca, there’s something wrong with this hotel, and it's more than just the sprinklers. You and Nico should leave this place.”

Bianca bit her lip. She knew what Percy meant, sort of, but she and her brother must have been put in this hotel for a reason, right? Their parents, whoever they were, would come get them eventually, right?

 “Percy… I know you mean well, but we can't just leave. There must be a reason why our parents left us here. I don't… I'm not sure, but I was thinking that they might be involved in some… dangerous work, and the reason why they left us here was to protect us.”

“Dangerous work? You mean like… mobsters?” asked Percy with an eyebrow raised.

Bianca let out a nervous laugh, “Ahahaha… Maybe. I mean, I was more hoping they were like spies or something, but either way, family is family, right?” She looked at Nico with a worried look on her face, but he was staring at the floor, silently thinking to himself.

Her little brother was unsure of what to say. His trip downstairs had given him answers to some of the questions he had been having, but it was not nearly enough. Even though he could now assign faces to his parents when he thought of them, that was it.

“Bianca… you know this isn't a normal hotel. It's done something to our memories, I know it! Why else can't we remember when we came here? Or how long we've been staying here? Or, or…”

Nico’s face gritted his teeth as tears started to trickle down his cheeks. Bianca and Percy were both surprised at the sudden emotional display. Seeing her brother like this made Bianca feel as if her heart was being constricted. When was the last time she had seen him cry?

“Or who our parents are…” he said softly. Nico bit his lip as he wiped the tears away.

“I just… I just think we'll find more answers outside the hotel than in it. That's all.”

When Nico had finished, Bianca immediately enveloped her little brother in a tight hug.

She whispered gently into his ear, “It’s okay. You're right, mio fratello. I want to see our parents again too.”

Honestly, Percy felt more than a little awkward watching the two siblings. He felt as if he was intruding on an intimate family moment as he watched them in silence. Maybe he should have looked away to give them some privacy, but it was too late now.

Bianca, who still had her brother locked in her arms, turned her head to look at Percy. He immediately felt goosebumps as he struggled to think of what to say. Thankfully, Bianca spoke first. “Percy, you're going to be leaving now too, right?”

“Yeah. I should be heading back to my room to pack up. My friends must be wondering where I went. I didn't exactly tell them where I was going.”

“Oh? I didn't know you were here with—”

Nico interrupted as he broke out of Bianca's hug. “Percy! Don't forget your promise!”

Bianca looked confused. “What promise?”

“Percy said he would—”

Before Nico could finish, Percy interjected, “I won't forget. Don't worry about it.” He gave Nico a wink before addressing Bianca's question. “Basically, I told Nico that I'd tell him a personal secret about me when we were down there.”

“I see. Why don't you head back to your room and pack? We can all meet up in the lobby before leaving. I'll bring you your shirt too; it finished up in the machine ages ago.”

“Sure, that sounds like a plan,” said Percy with a smile.

“Fine…” grumbled Nico as he reluctantly agreed.

With that, Percy split off from the two siblings and headed for the elevator. However, on his way there, he frowned as he replayed the last few minutes in his mind. If they both turned out to be demigods, what then? Before he could reflect on this any further, he heard the ding of the elevator as it arrived.

* * *

As soon as Percy exited the elevator, a bellhop immediately tried to offer him an upgraded LotusCash card. The hotel staff were offering immediate upgrades to everyone’s LotusCash cards in a desperate attempt to stop everyone from leaving. Somehow, this tactic was actually working even though both cards were functionally worth the same. Most people seemed to be getting suckered into the new card design, which featured shiny gold lettering over a sleek black background.

Percy literally gave the bellhop the slip by shifting the water underneath him. Normally he wouldn’t have used his powers like that, but the guy was relentless in giving him the hard sell and wouldn’t budge otherwise. As Percy got closer and closer to his room, he began to hear two familiar voices.

“What does he even smell like to you anyway?”

“Oh, well on a good day he smells like… like a sea breeze.”

“A sea breeze? What does a sea breeze even smell like?”

“Hm, I’m not sure how to really describe it. It’s kind of… salty? And when I smell it I’m always reminded of the ocean.”

“Then what does he smell like on a bad day?”

Before Grover could answer Annabeth’s question, Percy swung the door open, surprising them both. The two of them already had backpacks slung over their shoulders and Grover was even carrying a third, presumably Percy’s. How thoughtful!

“Percy!” exclaimed Annabeth. She then crossed her arms and shot him a glare. “Where were you? Grover and I were just about to head out and look for you by tracing your scent.”

Percy gave a hasty apology, “Sorry, it’s a long story. Are you two okay?”

“Everything’s fine, well, now anyways,” said Grover as he handed Percy his backpack, “It was as if we were under a spell that made us forget our quest until the sprinklers came on and snapped us out of it.”

Annabeth frowned. “They had us under their spell as soon as we accepted those cards. They as in the lotophagi. As their name implies, they eat special lotuses that can create powerful hallucinations thanks to the Mist.”

“Hold on,” said Grover as he looked at Annabeth with a furrowed brow. “Does that mean Percy managed to dispel **the Mist** with _mist?”_

Annabeth shrugged, “Maybe. I not very familiar with the inner workings of the Mist itself. Maybe we can ask Chiron or one of Hecate’s children about it once this is all over. Either way, I think it’s about time we leave. We’ve wasted enough time here, and I don’t want to risk falling under the lotus’ spell again.”

“Wait!” exclaimed Percy. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about. I think I might have met some other demigods in this hotel.”

Both Annabeth and Grover were stunned after hearing the word “demigods”, as in more than just one.

“Demigods!?” asked Grover. As the idea was processed through his mind, the satyr started to hyperventilate. “Oh man, this is not good. Not good at all. Camp Half-Blood is on the other side of the country!”

“Calm down Grover,” said Annabeth, “we don’t even know for sure if this is true yet.” She turned her gaze towards Percy. “How do you know that they’re demigods?”

“I… I was using Riptide and there was this other kid with me. He was able to see its true form. He also has a sister, so it’s possible she could be a demigod too. Neither of them knows who their parents are, and it’s like almost all their memories before they entered this hotel were wiped clean. I guess I don’t know for sure whether they’re demigods or not, but that’s why I’m asking you guys!”

“Grover, do you think you can smell their scent?” asked Annabeth.

The satyr hesitated for a moment before answering, “Maybe. I don’t know. I can smell you and Percy pretty well now even though this whole place smells like lotuses since I've been around you long enough. I'm not sure if I'd be able to smell new demigods straight away, especially if they've lived in the hotel for a while.”

Annabeth sighed. “I see.”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as the three of them thought over the situation. Neither of them wanted to just leave two potential demigods out in the open where they could be attacked by a monster, but they still had a quest to complete, and it wasn’t just any old quest, but one that could possibly trigger a war between the gods if handled improperly. Eventually, Annabeth was the one to break the silence.

“Percy, we need to think this through logically. Let's assume that they are demigods. Right now, we’re still on a quest to retrieve the Master Bolt from the Underworld and we still haven’t even made it into California yet. We don’t have the time nor the resources to escort two demigods all the way across the country back to Camp Half-Blood. Honestly, the best thing to do for them would be to have go to a police station. I know the police can’t do anything about monsters, but their scent will probably be hidden for a few days, maybe even a few weeks, depending on how long they’ve been staying at this hotel. Once our quest is complete, we could always come back for them.”

Percy didn’t want to admit it, but Annabeth made a lot of sense. There wasn’t a whole lot he could do for Nico and Bianca right now. Telling them about the existence of the Greek gods right now would just endanger their lives without anyone to escort them to Camp Half-Blood.

“Alright, I understand...” said Percy with a tone of resignation, “You’re right, Wise Girl. There’s nothing else we can do for them if we’re still stuck on our quest. Let's go, they should be waiting for me in the lobby.”

* * *

The lobby of the Lotus Hotel and Casino was strangely empty. Well, mostly empty. Everyone that had wanted to leave had already left, and most of the hotel staff was now on cleaning duty in an effort to mop up all the water that had been unleashed on the hotel. Bianca and Nico were standing next to the receptionist’s desk, looking around every so often to see if Percy had come yet.

Nico was pacing around anxiously. What was taking Percy so long? As he circled around his sister for what was probably the 17th time, he suddenly felt a pair of familiar hands grab him by the shoulders.

“Hey guys! I hope I didn’t keep you two waiting for too long.”

“You didn’t. Nico’s was just being impatient,” said Bianca as her brother wriggled his way out of Percy’s grasp. She then reached into her backpack and handed Percy back his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

Annabeth and Grover watched the three of them while keeping their distance. Grover felt a chill run up his spine when he caught a glimpse the two siblings for the first time. That was strange; he had never had a reaction like that before.

“So, Bianca, where are you and Nico planning to go once you leave the hotel?” asked Percy.

“Hm? Well… I was thinking maybe we’d go to the police first. I mean, I don’t really want to get our parents in trouble even though they stuck us here in the first place, but we don't really have a lot of information about them, not even their lawyer's phone number.”

 _“Oh, that was easy. I guess it does make sense the first place they’d go to the police first to find their missing parents. It’s probably what I would have done if Grover never told me about Camp Half-Blood,”_ thought Percy.

“What about you Percy? Where are you headed off to?”

“Hm? Oh, uh… me and my friends are heading out to California to pick up a package for a relative back in New York. It's um… a family business sort of deal.”

Technically, that was not a complete lie. Zeus was family, albeit a massive jerkbag.

Percy then turned his attention towards Nico. The younger boy was staring at him expectantly.

_“He’s not going to like this, but it’s for his own good.”_

“I haven't forgotten my promise. In fact, I remember it very well. What about you? How well do you remember my promise, Nico?”

The younger boy had a very confused look on his face that soon turned into annoyance. He had no idea what Percy meant by that, and it just seemed like the older boy was stalling.

“You said you’d tell me the truth,” he said tersely.

“Yes, I did,” said Percy with a sly grin on his face, “but that’s not exactly what I promised. I specifically said I’d tell you the truth _later_ , but I never told you what I meant by later.”

Nico looked at Percy in silence for the next few seconds as he slowly began to realize what Percy was saying. To say he was not pleased would have been an understatement.

“What?! You… You liar! That’s not what that’s supposed to mean at all! I bet you just thought of that right now!”

“Honestly I have no idea why you’re so mad. You were the one who double crossed me first!”

Percy had a really smug look on his face as he continued to grin at Nico’s frustration. Sure, it wasn’t like he had been planning to get revenge on Nico for using the downright dirty double cross trick, but the result felt so satisfying. Besides, technically Percy hadn’t yet broken the promise like Nico, so that made him better, right?

“Percy! Argh! You know what? I felt bad about it before, but now… Now I’m glad that I spilled my soda over your… your dumb face, you jerk!”

While Annabeth and Grover had been listening in on their argument in silent amusement, they were unable to contain their laughter as soon as they heard that. Even Bianca was giggling to herself, although she was trying to hide it by covering her mouth.

Percy was stunned. He did not have a dumb face! His mom had even said he was growing up to be quite handsome like his father! Of course, he had no idea what Poseidon actually looked like, but all gods had to be pretty good-looking, right? Then again, there was Mr. D…

Bianca elbowed her brother and whispered, “Come on Nico, you don't want that to be the last thing you say to Percy before we leave, do you?”

“Let's just go Bianca,” muttered Nico bitterly. He refused to look at Percy, preferring to look down at the wet floor instead. Then the older boy did something unexpected. He stuck his hand out in front of Nico's cone of vision with all his fingers curled except for the pinky, which stuck out.

“Look, I'm sorry, but I have my reasons why I can't tell you anything right now. I'll explain it to you one day, I promise. This won't be the last time we meet, I'm sure of it, and when we meet again, I'm sure I'll be ready to tell you.”

Assuming he doesn't get killed on this quest of course, but hey, you gotta think positively.

Nico looked up at Percy's face. His sea green eyes seemed to be practically twinkling, probably because of all the light being reflected off the surface of the wet floor, but still mesmerizing. What caught Nico's attention the most, however, was not Percy's eyes, but his smile. He had a nice, bright toothy grin that made the younger boy feel warm all over. Only seconds before, Nico’s face had been flush with anger, but while his face was still flushed, it was not because of anger, but rather a very different emotion that he didn't quite understand...

Without a word, Nico joined Percy's pinky with his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers! So this is the end of the first part of this story, thanks for coming this far! I just have a few things to say. First, updates are going to be a bit slower from now on, but future chapters should also be bigger/better quality to make up for it.
> 
> Second, I reread Chapter 4 and I am disappointed with how it ended up turning out. I was in too much of a rush to finish it and a lack of sleep didn't help either. At some point I will rewrite it. While there aren't going to be major plot changes, I still plan to make it an entertaining read. A true adventure. Anyways, thanks again to everyone reading this story!


	6. Counseling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all of you probably weren't expecting a chapter so soon after my last note, but this chapter is sort of... experimental? I'd like to know how you feel about it in order to guide me on how I should write the rest of the story. Thanks!
> 
> Also, there is a bit of a time skip in this chapter. Basically, anything that happened in between the ending of The Lightning Thief and very start of The Sea of Monsters that I don't directly address can safely be considered as having also happened in this story.

“Hey Percy, before you leave, can I talk to you for a moment?”

The young demigod groaned internally as he turned away from the doorway and walked towards his English teacher, Mr. de Milo. He was nice enough as far as Percy was concerned, albeit maybe a bit too lenient since he never punished students, not even when they started fights, but teachers suddenly asking if they could talk at the end of class was almost never a good sign.

It had been almost a full year since he completed his quest to return the Master Bolt back to Zeus, with the help of his friends, Annabeth and Grover, of course. If it weren’t for them, he’s probably be rotting in Tartarus right now, and yet that quest still haunted him for multiple reasons, which made it hard to concentrate in school.

First there was Luke’s betrayal. It had come so out of left field even though the prophecy had warned him that he’d be “betrayed by one who calls you a friend.” Luke had been so nice and helpful when he first arrived at camp. He had really looked up to the older demigod. The emotional sting of his betrayal had caused him more pain in the long run than the actual sting of the pit scorpion that Luke used to try to kill him.

The next big blow came about a week later when Annabeth told him the news about Nico and Bianca. Since he had to get the Master Bolt back to Zeus as quickly as possible, instead of heading straight back to Las Vegas to pick them up, Grover had instead contacted a satyr he knew that lived out in the deserts of Nevada to escort them to Camp Half-Blood. However, that satyr had been unable to find them even after checking all the police stations in Las Vegas.

Percy felt like total garbage after finding this out. What if they had been attacked by a monster and killed all because he chose to go to Mount Olympus first instead of coming to get them? Annabeth had tried to comfort him by saying it wasn’t his fault and that this didn’t necessarily mean that they were dead, but all Percy could do was assume the worst. She tried to reason with him that if they had died, it probably would have made the news somewhere, but he wasn’t entirely convinced.

“Percy, did you hear what I just said?"

After that he started having nightmares of the Underworld every so often. At first it was the usual stuff: falling into a never-ending chasm, getting chomped by Cerberus, being beaten to death by security ghouls, etc. However, recently he had started dreaming about his confrontation with Hades, but strangely enough, these dreams were basically play-by-plays of his memory of the event rather than made-up nightmares, probably because Hades was plenty scary enough. He had been so mad…

“Percy! Are you okay?”

The 13-year-old snapped his head back, startled, as he looked straight at his English teacher. Percy blushed in embarrassment as he realized he had been caught in one of his “dazes”, except this time it occurred right after a teacher had already called to speak with him. This was probably why Mr. de Milo had called him up in the first place.

“Sorry Mr. de Milo, I… I’ve just been a little tired today.”

His teacher looked back at him with a concerned look in his eyes.

“Is that all? I and some of the other teachers have been worried about you. You’ve been zoning out pretty often these past few weeks, and while I think a little daydreaming is healthy for the creative process, it’s really been negatively impacting your participation in class. Actually, what I wanted to talk to you about was that a counselor requested to have a one-on-one meeting with you to discuss if anything was troubling you.”

 _“A counselor?”_ thought Percy as his eyes narrowed. _“Ha, if I told a counselor about what was really bothering me, they’d probably send me off to a psych ward.”_

Percy gave his best impression of a grin. “Ah really? Thanks, but I don’t need anyone poking around in my mind. It’s not like there’s much going on in there anyways.”

Unfortunately for Percy, his teacher didn’t seem to find his self-deprecating joke very funny as he seemed even more concerned than before.

“I know that being referred to a counselor can be scary to think about, but I think it could really do you some good. They’re here to help students, and I think if you just took the time to talk to one, you’ll find that they can be quite helpful. Also, I think you’re a lot smarter than you think you are. You used to be very attentive at the start of the school year.”

That was true, he had been doing better in his classes back in fall, sort of. Meriwether College Prep was a “progressive school” where no grades were actually given, just written teacher’s evaluations. He had tried his hardest in the first few weeks of starting 7th grade in an effort for the sake of his mother, who had sacrificed so much for him throughout his entire life. Unfortunately, he just ended up being a disappointment anyway for perhaps the 7th time in a row, although he knew his mother would never call him that.

Percy sighed. “Fine, I’ll go.”

His teacher put a reassuring hand over his shoulder and said with a smile, “Good. Don’t worry about it. You’ll see that the counselors aren’t nearly as scary as everyone thinks there are.”

* * *

Mr. de Milo was a big fat liar.

Alright, that was definitely way too harsh. He was a nice guy who was fairly lean and always biked to work. Plus, he probably wasn’t aware that one of the school counselors was actually one of the Furies in disguise.

“Mrs. Dodds!” screamed out Percy in surprise after he opened the door to her office. Sometimes his nightmares of the Underworld would blend with his memories of her pre-algebra class. Those classes might as well have been living nightmares anyway.

He quickly corrected himself, “Er, wait, I mean… Alecto?”

The woman sitting down in front of him looked unimpressed. She was an older looking lady who wore glasses over a pair of brown eyes, although Percy could have sworn he saw a glint of red. In addition, she was wearing a black leather jacket, which was a rather unconventional choice for a school counselor, but Percy knew it was a disguise for her pair of batlike wings.

“Hmph, so we meet again, Perseus Jackson. Actually, honey, it’s Mrs. Crandall now if you don’t mind. Then again, why do I even bother? You’ve apparently already forgotten that names have power, and I won’t say no to some extra energy.”

Percy nearly facepalmed in response to his slip up. Now he was getting lectured by his old math teacher again when he was sure he had finally gotten rid of her last year.

“Look, no offense, but why are you in my new school? I haven’t done anything!”

The disguised Fury rolled her eyes before saying, “Yes, technically you haven’t done anything to warrant a visit from me or my sisters since the end of your quest, although you made quite a mess in chemistry lab two weeks ago.”

Percy blushed as soon as ~~~~Alecto brought that incident up. Two weeks ago, he had been working on a lab experiment with Tyson, as usual. Unfortunately, Tyson was a big kid with appropriately large fingers and he ended up causing a chain reaction (thankfully not an actual chemical chain reaction) that ended up breaking almost all the glassware in the lab. Somehow Percy got the lion’s share of the blame, as always. Well, alright he might have contributed a little by startling Tyson when he mixed the wrong reagents together, but he’s dyslexic, alright! Sheesh, why did molecular formulas all have to look so similar anyway?

Oh yeah, Tyson was another source of Percy’s troubles. Not because he intentionally tried to bother the demigod, but rather because he was always getting picked on by the other students and Percy, being the hero that he is, would never just stand by and let that happen. This did not make him very popular with the other students. Tyson was a gentle giant, but no one could seem to muster up the will to look directly at his face. The other kids always called him ugly, but Percy didn’t think so. He thought Tyson was... was... was...

Look, Tyson did not deserve the treatment the other kids gave him, alright? That’s all that had to be said. Besides, he had lived a really hard life before coming to this school (and still lives a hard life even after coming to this school). He used to live out on the mean streets of New York City, homeless and completely alone. He had terrible scars that ran across his back. He—

Mrs. Crandall snapped her fingers twice in rapid succession. “Excuse me, honey, but this is no time to be daydreaming like you do all the time in class! Honestly, I thought your head contained mostly seawater. How can there be so many thoughts swimming around in your mind if you couldn’t even answer a simple question about factorization back in my class?”

Wow, how rude!

“Did you come here just to insult me?” said Percy with a furrowed brow and crossed arms.

“Well, honey, if you had actually been paying attention to me, you would have heard me tell you that your debt to Hades has actually not yet been paid in full.”

“What? How?! You were the one who told me that I was all clear after I got Hades back his helm! That wasn’t even a part of my quest!”

She let out a shrill laugh. More of a cackle really. What a witch.

“Yes, Lord Hades has forgiven you for the damages you've caused to his realm during your quest, but there were quite a few loose ends created thanks to your misadventures. Do you need a reminder of what he said to you?”

Percy growled, “No, I can remember it perfectly. Probably because you’re the one that’s been giving me all these nightmares in the first place!”

* * *

_Hades, more than any other god he had met so far during his quest, radiated absolute power. Even Ares, the god of war, was not nearly as intimidating as the Lord of the Dead._

_He was pale and had shoulder-length hair that was as black as pitch, while wearing silk robes that matched the color of his hair. In addition, he was extremely tall, at least ten feet, and he sat on a throne of fused human bones. Definitely nothing like the Disney version. His aura was so menacing, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover all felt compelled to bow before him in worship._

_Obviously, he spoke first._

_“So, you’ve come at last, nephew. Considering your crimes against me, you are either very brave or very foolish.”_

_In a show of respect, but also to some extent, fear, Percy bowed and said, “Lord and Uncle, I come with only two requests: to retrieve the Master Bolt so that I may return it to Lord Zeus, and to bring my mother home.”_

_The Lord of the Dead sneered at him in response._

_“Two… requests? Do you believe I am in any mood to fulfill any of your requests? Frankly, after what you’ve done, you should be bowing for my forgiveness right now!”_

_He pointed a long, bony finger at his nephew, which made Percy flinch a little._

_“Not only have you dared to baselessly accuse me of stealing my brother’s symbol of power…”_

_“Not only have you stolen my Helm of Darkness, sullying it with your half-blood hands…”_

_“Not only have you wreaked havoc upon the Lotus Hotel and Casino, of which I own a stake in…”_

_With each listing of Percy’s supposed transgressions (although that last one was a surprise; why in the world would the Lord of the Dead invest in a hotel/casino?), Hades’ voice seemed to boom louder and louder until the three questers before him were trembling out of both fear and physical vibrations since his palace was literally shaking._

_“But perhaps your worst crime is something you could never understand,” he said, voice surprisingly somber._

_“And for what? Because you feel obligated interfere with everyone’s lives? Because you’re a so-called hero!? Because you feel, despite having walked this Earth for barely even a decade, that you know what’s best for EVERYONE!?”_

_Ah, that’s where the extra volume went._

* * *

Percy shivered as he recalled that memory. He had been so sure Hades would have killed all three of them that day. He was just so angry…

Thankfully, it had all worked out in the end, sort of. It turned out that Kronos had been the one pulling all the strings, and it was proven that neither Percy nor Hades had been involved in the thefts, and a war between the gods was narrowly avoided. All in all, it was a happy ending for everyone. Well, except for the part when Luke revealed himself to be a dirty traitor who had been working for Kronos all along...

“What else does he want me to do?” asked Percy with a sigh. He was just so tired at this point.

“You may remember that several guests left the Lotus Hotel and Casino as a result of your actions. Well, some of those were demigods whose lives you put in danger.”

Percy felt his stomach lurch. He wanted to hurl.

“I… I understand. But… um… I’m just surprised that the Lord of the Dead cared enough about their lives to send you to talk to me about it.”

“Well, to put it bluntly, he doesn’t, but he does recognize a potential issue that this causes. Since he partially owns the Lotus Hotel and Casino, their lives are partially his responsibility, at least in the eyes of their parents anyway. Now, while the satyrs have located most of the half-bloods that were released and brought them to camp, there are still a few stragglers.”

“Huh, so you’re saying you want me to… rescue other demigods? I thought that… you know… you and your sisters hunted them.”

She looked back straight into Percy’s eyes with a ferocious intensity and gave him a crooked smile.

“Only the naughty ones.”

The Fury then opened a drawer in her desk and tossed a folder onto the desk’s surface.

“Open it,” she commanded.

Percy gulped as he picked up the folder. He felt anxious just holding it, let alone opening it. Could he possibly have a chance to fix his mistake?

His heart skipped a beat.

_“Bianca di Angelo… Age: 13… Nico di Angelo… Age: 11… Location: Westover Hall.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you have any questions about this chapter. Thanks!


	7. Private Message

“Well? Are you done looking through that folder yet? I know you’re a slow reader, even for a half-blood, but it’s been over two minutes and you haven’t said a single word!”

Alecto scowled at Percy while tapping her long red fingernails against the surface of her desk. This boy was seriously testing her patience.

“S-Sorry, it’s just… I—”

Percy stopped himself; he was about to tell the Fury that he had met these two demigods back at the Lotus Hotel until he realized that might not be such a good idea. Sure, without her, he wouldn’t have found out that Bianca and Nico were still alive, but that didn’t mean he automatically trusted her. This whole scenario was odd. Would Hades really care if some random demigods got killed after leaving the Lotus Hotel? Demigods were practically defined by their short lifespans.

“I really don’t think Hades would just send people out to rescue demigods out of the goodness of his heart, and I don’t think he’d care if another god got mad at him for allowing their children to get killed either. There’s got to be something you’re hiding from me. You know who their parents are, don’t you?”

That was a question Percy had had in his mind for a while. What kind of jerk god or goddess would wipe their own children’s memories and leave them in a hotel to be forgotten? Did they even care about them?

Alecto narrowed her eyes and scratched the surface of her desk hard enough to leave marks, which was quite impressive considering it was made of metal, after hearing that question. She then gave Percy a death glare that made the young demigod flinch a little.

“Why do you think I would know who their parents are?” she asked coldly. “Frankly, even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you. I imagine they will be claimed when the time is right, or perhaps not at all, just like any other half-blood. Now, do you have any questions that are actually worth my time or not?”

 _“Damn, I thought it was worth a shot…”_ thought Percy as he looked back at Nico and Bianca’s files.

“Um… Okay, I have a couple of other questions. It says here that Westover Hall is located in Maine in some town called Bar Harbor. How am I supposed to get there? I’ve never even heard of Bar Harbor.”

The Fury rolled her eyes and brought a hand to support her forehead. She was well aware of how truly clueless this half-blood was, but this entire exchange was still so... infuriating.

“Did you seriously believe I would trust you to go all the way to Maine by yourself? Honestly, I’d be surprised if you could even find Maine on the map.”

Percy took offense to that. He obviously knew where Maine was on a map! He wasn’t that dumb. It was right next to Massachusetts. Probably.

“You spent all that time staring at their school photos and you never bothered to check the papers in the back?” She sighed before continuing, “Fine! I’ll explain anyways. The students of Westover Hall are on a trip from Maine to Pennsylvania and visiting a bunch of landmarks related to the American Revolution along the way. They should be in Boston right now, but they’ll be here in New York tomorrow. I’ve even included a copy of their entire itinerary in that folder. I imagine it would be quite useful if you actually read it.”

Percy pulled back Bianca's file and sure enough, behind her file there was a sheet of paper detailing the schedule for the entire trip. Printed near the middle of the sheet was a line stating that the students should arrive in New York on May 25th at 1:30 P.M.

“Wait a minute! What about— What about my classes? I still have school this week. How am I supposed to find the time to pick them up and take them to Camp Half-Blood?”

Alecto made a face of mock surprise.

“Oh my! Honey, I didn’t know you were so passionate about your schoolwork! I guess that’s why you failed my class; the work just wasn’t challenging enough for you.”

Alright, that’s enough playing nice. Percy had had enough of this constant verbal abuse, he had to fire back at least once. Maybe this wasn’t such a smart move considering that right now, Alecto was his only link to meeting up with Bianca and Nico again, but she was seriously getting on his nerves.

“You know, maybe if you were as good at fighting as you are at spitting insults, you wouldn’t have gotten beaten by a 12-year-old boy. I mean, haven’t you been harassing heroes for the past few thousand years? I guess your old age had really gotten to you.”

“EXCUSE ME!?” Alecto screeched. The outline of her pupils glowed red like hot coals.

The room was then filled with the terrible sound of fingernails running against a metal desk as the Fury chose to vent her frustration on the inanimate object rather than the boy in front of her. Unfortunately for her, this mission was specifically meant for Percy, meaning that she couldn’t just jump across the table and slash his throat to ribbons like she wanted to.

Percy winced as he covered his ears to block out the horrible noise, but thankfully Alecto seemed to have calmed down fairly quickly, or at least was trying to. The Fury was taking in deep breaths as she silently glared at the young demigod. Seeing her like this made him want to smirk in triumph, but it was probably not a good idea to push her any further.

“Alright, alright. I’ll skip school. Could I at least get some kind of note saying I’ll be busy on a school trip or something? I don’t want my mom to know I’m skipping class.”

Alecto scoffed at his request. “Do you think I care? I don’t even know why your mother still bothers with trying to give you a mortal education. Honey, you’ve been kicked out of every school you've attended in the past. Hearing about you ditching a couple of classes should be the least of her worries. School counselors don’t even have that kind of power anyway.”

“Well then maybe you should have disguised yourself as the principal instead. Then again, now that I think about it, you’re probably just not used to having that much authority since you only do what Hades tells you to.”

Percy knew he shouldn’t have said that, but it felt good to tell her off. Alecto’s eyes began to glow with the intensity of a pit of molten lava, leading Percy to quickly grab Riptide out from his pocket. She let out an angry screech as her fingernails morphed into talons and her leather jacket turned into a pair of large bat wings. Within a split second, she knocked the desk to the side, smacking it against the wall with a loud bang, and lunged at the young demigod.

* * *

_“I guess she really has gotten weakened by old age,”_ thought Percy as he entered the boy’s bathroom.

The fight with Alecto, if you could call it that, ended practically as soon as it started. The Fury managed to deliver a slight cut to the demigod’s right cheek before getting decapitated by Riptide with a single slash, but that was it. Plus, with just a little water from the sink, his cut was already healing—a handy perk of being a son of Poseidon.

_“Still, maybe it was a bad idea to provoke her like that. I have no idea how I’m going to get them to Camp Half-Blood. Maybe I should try messaging Annabeth to see if she has an idea.”_

There was no one else in the bathroom with him at the moment, but that didn’t someone couldn’t just walk in later. He quickly scanned the room to see if there was something he could use to block the door, or at least hide him from sight, until his eyes finally settled on a bathroom stall.

_“This is probably a bad idea, but…”_

Percy entered the bathroom stall and locked the door behind him. The water in the toilet bowl bubbled before shooting up in a gentle fountain-like spray. He then fished out two drachmas from his pocket and whispered, “Sorry Iris, but I really need to talk to her. I'll pay double the normal rate. Please accept my offering and connect me to Annabeth.”

He tossed the drachmas into the mist and for a moment it seemed as if they were just going to plop into the toilet bowl until the two coins disappeared in a cloud of gold dust. Within a few seconds, the image of a blonde girl curled up in bed with a book in her hands appeared.

“Hey! Annabeth!”

With a startled jump, the daughter of Athena clamped her book shut and pushed herself off the bed. She frowned and crossed her arms as soon as she saw the Iris Message.

“Percy! Gods, I wasn’t expecting you to message me right now. Shouldn’t you be in class?”

“Sorry. Anyways, shouldn’t I be asking you the same question? It’s not like I was expecting to see you lying down in bed right now. Are you still at your dad's house?”

A slight tinge of red developed on Annabeth's cheeks while she bit her lip.

“Yeah, I-I am… B-but I would never skip school, okay!? At least not without a good reason. I told you before about how I ran away from home when I was seven, remember? Well, I haven’t attended a proper school in years and I’ve kind of been… homeschooled since then. I still made sure to keep up with my studies with the other kids at the Athena Cabin back at Camp Half-Blood, so it’s not like I’ve been doing nothing this whole time. Besides, I do plan to go back to school at some point, it's just that… now isn't really the right time.”

“Whoa, there’s no need to get so defensive! Honestly, you’re probably still smarter than all the kids at my school. Besides, that’s not the reason why I messaged you.”

Percy’s face lit up with a big grin as he said, “Remember Nico and Bianca? I just found out that the two of them are still alive!”

Annabeth's eyes widened at first before a bright smile developed over her face.

“That's great! How did you find out?”

The male demigod gave a nervous chuckle right before answering, “Uh… Well, today I got brought to the school counselor’s office, and it turns out that the counselor that called me over was Alecto. They’ll be here tomorrow, and she wants me to—”

The smile on Annabeth's face was quickly replaced with a frown as soon as Percy mentioned the Fury. Before Percy could finish his next sentence, she interrupted.

“Wait, what?! Are you saying one of the Kindly Ones told you to bring two demigods to Camp Half-Blood? That makes no sense. This is obviously a trap!”

“Yeah, I don't exactly trust her either, but I've got to at least try and see if she was telling the truth. For the past year, I thought I had gotten them killed by telling them to leave the hotel. If there's a chance… any chance… I've got to take it.”

Annabeth gave Percy a sympathetic look. While her mind was screaming at her that trusting a Fury was a horrendous idea, she could understand where he was coming from. Percy hadn't been the only one to feel guilty over Bianca and Nico's disappearance. If they had had more time on that quest, she would have chosen to make a stop at Las Vegas since she knew all too well how scary things could get for demigods trying to survive in a world full of monsters on their own, but the alternative, arriving at Mount Olympus too late, would have led to far more death.

The awkward silence that had developed between them was interrupted with the creaking sound of a door opening followed by footsteps. As Annabeth was about to ask who that was, the sound of splashing liquids began to echo throughout the room. Her expression soon turned to one of disgust as she realized what that splashing was.

“Percy!” she hissed while trying to keep her voice down. “Please tell me you're not messaging me from where I think you are.”

Percy blushed as he whispered, “Look, I needed some privacy so—”

“Di immortales… Percy! Why?! Does that mean you're messaging me over some toilet water? And from the boy's bathroom too... I knew you could be gross sometimes, but this isn’t just gross, it’s also extremely dumb. Are you trying to get yourself cursed on purpose?”

“Oh, come on, it's not that bad! Iris accepted the payment and connected me to you, so I don’t think she has a problem with this. Besides, the water I’m using is clear, so that’s probably good enough as far as the goddess is concerned.”

Annabeth groaned as she raked her hair with her fingernails in frustration.

“Good enough? Are you serious? How about you bathe in that water or drink it if you think it’s that clean. Gods, you really are a Seaweed Brain! Just because Iris let the message go through doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. She’s probably only doing it to fulfill her divine duties. The gods, even minor ones, can be quite petty, so I’d watch my back if I were you.”

“No one said anything about it being clean,” grumbled Percy. “I don’t get your point. It’s not like I’m making her touch the water or anything. She’s just projecting an image over the mist—there’s no contact!”

“That’s not the point! Percy—!”

Annabeth took a deep breath to regain her focus. Percy was probably going to get punished for this sometime later, but right now they were getting way off-topic.

“Look, you know what? You wanted my help in bringing the two siblings to Camp Half-Blood, right? Fine, I still don’t like the idea of trusting one of the Kindly Ones, but I think this is a clear sign that you need me if you’re going to succeed in bringing those two to camp. I’m coming in person, so until then, try not to offend any more goddesses.”

She was about to swipe her hand through the message and end the call until Percy spoke up.

“Hold on, you’re coming here? What about your dad? Is he going to be okay with this?”

Percy couldn’t help but notice a hint of sadness on Annabeth’s face as soon as he mentioned her dad.

“It’s fine. He won’t care. I’ll see you tomorrow, Seaweed Brain.”

Before Percy could get another word in, Annabeth swatted the Iris Message away, severing the connection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm going to have a lot of free time now so future updates are going to be much more frequent from now on. In fact, you can expect a new chapter sometime tomorrow. I know everyone reading this probably misses Nico, so don't worry, tomorrow is going to be the big reunion!


	8. Reunions

“Mom, there’s no need to worry, alright? There’s only one more month left in the school year and I haven’t been attacked by any monsters at all,” said Percy as he tied his shoelaces.

 _“Well, unless you count Alecto,”_ he thought to himself.

“I know dear,” said Sally with a warm smile on her face as she gently brushed her son’s messy hair with her fingers, “but sometimes I just can’t help but worry. It’s just I can barely believe how peaceful the past year has been, but I guess life can’t always be chaotic, even for heroes. Stay safe sweetie.”

Percy blushed as his mom kissed the top of his forehead and followed it up with a tight hug. Sometimes he wondered if he was getting too big for forehead kisses, after all, he was thirteen now, but then again, was anyone truly too old for their mother’s love? Well, maybe some of the gods were. The thought of Hades being hugged and kissed on the forehead by Rhea was a very odd, and kind of scary, mental image.

“I will.”

He felt a pang of guilt as he closed the door behind him. While he had meant to tell his mother about having to go escort two demigods to Camp Half-Blood, somehow, he never managed to muster up the courage to tell her. After a year of peace, he just didn’t want to worry her by telling her that he was about to actively put himself back in danger, even if she did have to find out eventually. Besides, if everything went well (very unlikely), he might even make it back home in time back for dinner.

“Good morning, Seaweed Brain.”

Percy turned around immediately after hearing Annabeth’s voice. At first there was no one there, but only a second later, she appeared out of thin air with a Yankees cap in her hand. He grinned—it was nice to see her in person again.

“Hello to you too, Wise Girl.”

Annabeth smirked. “It’s almost been a whole year, hasn’t it? It’s nice to see that you’re still in one piece considering you used a goddess to communicate with me via toilet yesterday.”

Percy chuckled and said, “I think you're the only one who cares. What’s the worst she could even do to me anyways? Shower me in rainbows?”

He then took off his backpack and opened it. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out the folder Alecto had given him and handed it over to Annabeth. She eyed it warily at first, half-expecting it to be cursed in some way, but curiosity quickly got the best of her.

“Do you know how these two ended up in a military academy in Maine?” asked Annabeth.

Percy shook his head and replied, “Alecto refused to tell me anything that wasn't already in their files. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was involved in some way. She really seems to like working at schools for some reason.”

Annabeth continued to look through the folder as the two of them entered an elevator that was going down to the ground floor. Something about Nico and Bianca's photos seemed to remind her of someone, but she wasn't sure who exactly. In her opinion, the two of them appeared particularly joyless in their school photos, but then again, that might be because they were wearing stiff military-style uniforms.

“I imagine Hades uses the Furies to spy on potentially dangerous demigods, so having them infiltrate schools is a pretty reasonable tactic in that case.”

“Seriously?” groaned Percy. “So that means they're always going to be spying on me no matter which school I go to. Great, as if I needed another reason to hate school.”

“Education is important. I think the pursuit of knowledge—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't need an entire speech about the importance of school. Honestly, I was kind of excited about the idea of making it through 7th grade without any major problems. I have a feeling that's probably not gonna happen after today though.”

“If we make the right preparations, we’ll be okay.”

“Well, I did vaporize my school counselor, and Chiron wasn't there like last time…” said Percy sheepishly.

“I'm sure the Mist has already taken care of that. Its effect on mortals can be pretty powerful even without someone actively manipulating it. By the way, have you contacted Grover?”

“Grover? Yeah, I did try messaging him last night for some advice, but it didn't go through. He's probably really busy on his quest to find Pan, so I’m not surprised.”

“Or maybe Iris banned you from sending any more messages because you were being gross,” teased Annabeth as the elevator doors opened.

“I'll try again later. Anyways, do you have a plan all figured out yet, Wise Girl?”

She nodded. “Pretty much. Their bus will enter the city at around 1:30 P.M. and their first stop is scheduled thirty minutes later at Bennett Park. I've never been there, but this paper says it’s the former site of Fort Washington. Since we have a couple of hours until then, we should use that time to scout out the area for possible escape routes and monsters.”

“Sounds alright to me. I just need to make a stop at the subway station first. I haven’t told Tyson that I’m not going to school today, and he gets pretty worried even when I’m just running late.”

“Oh,” said Annabeth, slightly surprised. “I had no idea you even had friends besides me and Grover.”

Annabeth was now following Percy’s lead as the two of them exited the building.

“Yeah, it’s hard to keep friends when I keep having to move from school to school, but Tyson’s nice. He’s just kind of… different. He might look a little scary at first, but he's actually a gentle giant who would never hurt anyone.”

* * *

It only took a few minutes for the two of them to reach the subway station. Downstairs, Tyson was fidgeting around, turning his gaze from one staircase to another every few seconds. At six feet tall, he was definitely way bigger than the average 7th grader, although his dirty tattered clothing made him look more like a homeless person. Every commuter that passed him by filled him with a growing anxiety as he wondered where Percy could be.

“So, you’re planning to stay at camp once we get them there?”

Tyson’s ears perked up as soon as he heard Percy’s voice, and a big goofy smile developed over his face as his only friend came into view.

“PERCY!” he shouted as he ran over to the other boy with his arms outstretched. Every step he took sounded like a sledgehammer smacking against the concrete. The other commuters quickly ran away towards the opposite direction.

The male demigod was at first startled by Tyson’s booming voice as he quickly turned around to face him but then smiled as he braced himself for impact. This was a scene he had gotten very familiar with over the course of the school year. However, when Annabeth turned to look at Tyson, her eyes widened in fear as she got a good look at his face.

“Percy, that’s a cyclops!”

Tyson came to a stop with a confused look on his face as Annabeth pulled Percy back. She was about to reach for her dagger until Percy grabbed her wrist and cried out, “Stop! That’s Tyson!”

“Tyson’s a cyclops!?” asked Annabeth in disbelief.

“What are you talking about? He’s just a big kid.”

“No, he’s not just a big kid. Percy, take a good look at his face. Look through the Mist.”

Not used to seeing Annabeth so spooked, he did exactly what she said and stared at Tyson’s face. It was strangely difficult, as if his face, particularly the area around his forehead, was constantly shifting, which was a little nauseating. However, with some extra concentration, Tyson’s facial features were slowly starting to settle in. Suddenly, he could see that Tyson only had one huge eye in the middle of his forehead, which caused his own eyes to widen in shock.

“Tyson, you’re…”

“Hello friend? Good morning?” said Tyson nervously. He wasn’t sure what he had done wrong.

Annabeth shot Percy a glare. “How did you not notice that your friend was a cyclops? Cyclopes are extremely dangerous. Even a young one could easily snap an adult man’s back.”

“I guess that explains why his bear hugs always felt like I was actually getting mauled by a real bear. He wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose though. I’ve never seen him throw a punch at someone, even if they hurt him first. I don't think he could even hurt a fly.”

As if on cue, a mosquito buzzed by Tyson’s ear and landed on his cheek. He immediately let out a yelp and smacked his own face, squashing the mosquito flat.

Percy laughed nervously as Annabeth was now carefully scrutinizing Tyson’s every move.

“Well, mosquitoes aren’t flies…”

“Actually Percy, they kind of are. Both mosquitoes and true flies are part of order Diptera, which makes them closely related. Mosquitoes just belong to a particular family of flies.”

The male demigod groaned in response.

“You're probably right, but I have, like, almost no idea what that even means.”

Percy then grabbed a napkin from his pocket and walked towards Tyson, which made Annabeth feel uneasy, as if Tyson might flip out and attack Percy at any moment.

“Here you go buddy. You probably shouldn’t walk around with blood and bug guts on your face.”

Tyson gave him a big smile. “Thank you.”

Annabeth sighed and said, “Look Percy, I don’t think it’s a good idea for a cyclops to go to a regular school. He may be gentle now, but that doesn’t mean that’ll always be the case. Cyclopes are very different from demigods; they can’t just blend in like we can. Sooner or later, someone’s going to get seriously hurt or worse.”

Percy frowned. While he understood Annabeth’s point, he there seemed to be some hostility laced within her words. Sure, Tyson wasn’t human, or even partially human like him and Annabeth, but that didn’t make him a monster. Well, okay technically he was a monster, but he was one of the good ones (a.k.a. the ones that didn't feast on demigod flesh).

“What, do you want to take him to Camp Half-Blood too?”

Annabeth took another look at Tyson. The young cyclops looked back and waved at her. She knew deep down that it wasn’t very rational but knowing that Tyson was staring right at her with his large, grotesque eye sent chills down her spine.

“Yes.”

* * *

“Bianca, it’s hot…” groaned Nico as he slouched in his seat.

“I know. Ugh, I can’t believe we got stuck on the bus with a broken AC, and Dr. Thorn still won’t let up take off these ridiculous hats…”

At the front of the bus was a man wearing a black military-style uniform adorned with various ribbons and a red trim. He was a very stern looking man with slicked back gray hair and a mouth that seemed to naturally curl downwards into a slight frown. Hoisted on his belt was a megaphone. As soon as he reached for it, all the kids in the frontmost seats immediately covered their ears.

The megaphone let out a loud screech as he turned it on.

“Attention cadets! We’re just about to arrive at our first destination in the Big Apple—Bennett Park, the former site of Fort Washington. This fort occupied a strategic point on the island of Manhattan as it was built over the island’s highest natural point, supported by a bedrock of strong Manhattan schist.”

As soon as the word “schist” exited Dr. Thorn’s mouth, half of the students on the bus couldn’t stop themselves from laughing as his accent had mangled that word into something more crass. Dr. Thorn smiled calmly right before taking in a deep breath of air. He then proceeded to let out a loud lion-like roar, amplifying its intensity through the megaphone, which nearly deafened everyone on the bus. No one was laughing after that.

“Ahem, as I was saying…”

* * *

“Okay, cadets! We’re here! Exit the bus in an orderly fashion, or else!”

The students began to get up, row by row, and followed Dr. Thorn out of the bus in single file. As soon as Nico walked outside and took a quick look of his surroundings, he felt less than impressed. There wasn’t even a single fort in sight! Not even the ruins of one! What a huge rip-off.

“Why are we even here if there’s no fort at all?” he whispered to his sister. “Aside from that one cannon, it just looks like a regular park. A really small one.”

“What did you expect? This whole trip was free, so Dr. Thorn probably had to find a way to save money somehow.”

Nico frowned. “I wanted to see something cool and epic, like the Empire State Building! Or the Statue of Liberty! Real landmarks, not this… this… this pile of schist.”

“Nico! Don’t let Dr. Thorn hear you say that.”

Bianca only gently elbowed her brother as "punishment" since her brother's description of the park, while rude, had just given her her first genuine smile throughout this entire trip.

Suddenly, both their hats were knocked off their heads.

 _“What the heck? Was that the wind?”_ thought Bianca as she watched their hats continue tumbling across the grass. For some reason, none of the other cadets had lost their hats.

_“Of course, just out luck…”_

“Come on Nico, we better get our hats back before Dr. Thorn notices.”

The two of them chased after their hats, but every time before they could get close enough to grab them, the wind picked them up and tossed them several yards further.

“Are you kidding me!?” cried out Bianca, as she failed to grab her hat for the 6th time. Her brother wasn’t having any luck either. He tried to grab his own hat by pouncing after it, but all he got in return was a face covered in grass.

As the two of them ran after their hats once again, a boy appeared from behind a tree and somehow managed to catch them both in midair. Both di Angelos stood there in shock.

The boy flashed them a grin and said, “I told you guys I’d be back for you,” before approaching them and handing them back their hats.

“Thank you so much,” said Bianca as she put her hat back on her head, “but I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Percy couldn’t believe what he had just heard; it felt as if he had just been sucker punched.

“What?!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot harder to write than I expected at first. I'm kind of worried whether or not I'll be able to handle all these characters properly, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere. Thanks for reading.


	9. The Manticore

“Seriously? You don’t remember me? It’s me, Percy! We met at Lotus Hotel!”

The di Angelo siblings looked at one another, as if expecting the other to know what this mysterious boy was talking about, but neither of them seemed to have any idea who he was or what he was talking about.

Bianca looked at Percy with a sympathetic look in her eyes and said, “I’m sorry, but maybe you’ve got us confused with another pair of siblings. I’ve never even heard of the Lotus Hotel.”

Now Percy was really starting to panic. It was one thing for them to forget about him, since technically they had only known each other for about a day while in the hotel even though five days had past in the real world, but how could they have possibly forgotten about the hotel altogether? The two of them had left the hotel in a desire to recover their lost memories, but somehow, they had now lost even more memories than before!

Percy turned his gaze over to Nico and said, with a certain degree of desperation, “Come on, you’ve got to remember me, right? I mean, you even… you even made a pinky promise with me, Nico…”

The son of Poseidon blushed a little as soon as he uttered the words “pinky promise”. At thirteen, he felt way too old to be talking about pinky promises. Annabeth would probably be quietly laughing at him if she wasn’t already so concerned about how the plan to bring Nico and Bianca to Camp Half-Blood was getting derailed.

Nico’s face felt a little warmer even though he had no clue what Percy was talking about.

“N-no, I don’t remember making a… a pinky promise with you… Those are for little kids anyway. Also, how do you even know my name?”

Percy felt like he was going to die from embarrassment.

 _“Really? Now that you’re one year older, you’re suddenly a “big kid” now? You’re the one who started it in the first place, you little brat!”_ thought Percy as his face reddened even more. Of course, it’s not like Percy really cared if the other boy remembered their pinky promise or not. He had been too old for it back then, and he was definitely too old for it now. Nope, he most certainly did not care, not even a little.

The male demigod then felt a jab at his side, bringing him back to reality.

_“Oof! R-right, I gotta stick to the mission. Sorry Annabeth. I guess I’ll have to improvise.”_

Percy sighed and said, “Look, it doesn’t matter if you two remember me or not. I have something really important to tell you. You two are demigods. As in, the Greek gods are real and one of them is your parent.”

“Cool!” exclaimed Nico.

Bianca shot her brother a glare and grabbed his wrist. “Nico, you can’t seriously believe that! I don’t know how he knows your name, but we should head back to the others before Dr. Thorn punished us. This guy is clearly nuts anyway.”

As Bianca began to drag her brother away, Percy took out a pen from his pocket and said, “Wait! I know it sounds crazy. I didn’t believe it at first either, but if I was lying, how else could you explain this?!”

He uncapped Riptide, revealing a long celestial bronze sword that glowed brightly in the summer sunlight. The sheer intensity of the light being reflected off Riptide’s blade forced Bianca and Nico to avert their gaze at first. Percy then reangled the blade, allowing them to get a good look at the sword without being blinded in the process.

When they reopened their eyes, the two of them stared at the blade in awe. Bianca felt a little nervous over how the boy in front of her just pulled out a sword in the middle of a park so casually, but she had to admit it looked impressive. Nico felt a sense of déjà vu, although he kept it to himself.

"This is my sword, Riptide, but its name in Ancient Greek is Anaklusmos."

“That’s so cool! Does that mean I can have one of those?” asked Nico.

Percy smirked. “Yep. Well, maybe not one that’s exactly the same as my sword since it’s one of a kind, but once we get to Camp Half-Blood, you can get a weapon of your own. These weapons make it possible for demigods like us to fight off monsters that would try to kill us.”

“Wait, what?! There are monsters that want to kill us?!” exclaimed Bianca as she tightened her grip on her brother’s wrist.

Before Percy could answer, someone else decided to interrupt their conversation.

“This world is full of dangers, Ms. di Angelo, some of which can easily be avoided by smart choices. You and your brother do know what happens to deserters, don’t you?”

Bianca and Nico quickly immediately turned around to face Dr. Thorn. He did not look happy at all as he walked towards the two. Startled, Percy accidentally dropped Riptide’s cap when trying to turn it back into a pen.

“Oh, there’s no need for you to hide your sword from me, Perseus Jackson.”

Percy frowned. “How do you know my name?” he demanded.

Dr. Thorn flashed him a crooked smile, revealing a set of sharp fangs.

“Ha ha ha… Mr. Jackson, you are far too modest. Between me and my partners, you’re practically a celebrity. Everyone knows who you are, son of Poseidon. You did, after all, prevent a war from breaking out among the Olympians last year. Lord Kronos mentions you quite often.”

At the mere mention of Kronos, Percy felt his heart begin to race. Dr. Thorn was clearly no ordinary man. The young demigod quickly pushed the di Angelo siblings away and positioned himself in front of them. The two of them were probably scared and confused considering that their entire perception of the world was about to be shattered; Percy knew he had to at least pretend to be calm for their sake.

“Bianca, Nico, stay as far away from that man as possible. I’m pretty sure he’s one of those monsters I was talking about, but don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you guys.”

Percy gripped Riptide with both hands and adopted a defensive battle stance. Annabeth was out there somewhere. If he could draw Dr. Thorn’s attention, maybe she could take him by surprise and attack him from behind. Tyson was also somewhere in the park as well, although considering how he had never fought back against his own bullies, Percy doubted he’d be useful in a fight even if he was a cyclops.

“Oh, Mr. Jackson, you have it all wrong! I’m not here to kill you. In fact, I want to save you! I’d like to save you from your own foolishness. Why serve some ungrateful Olympians when you could serve Lord Kronos instead and actually be appreciated for your efforts?”

“That does sound kind of nice, but I don’t know if I can trust a guy that eats his own babies.”

“Well then, unfortunately you leave me no choice. You are all coming with me whether you want to or not, and that includes your sneaky little friend too.”

Before Percy could react, Dr. Thorn let out a lion’s roar that could be heard across the entire park. Startled, bird flew out of their nests and squirrels scurried away from their trees. In addition, all the curious bystanders that had been staring at the scene and wondering if this was some sort of movie shoot were now fleeing in terror. Nico hugged his sister tightly.

The three of them watched as Dr. Thorn began to quickly transform from man to beast. The man had gotten on all fours and was growing larger and larger, stretching out his military-style uniform until it was a tattered mess. While his face did not change, his body took the form of a lion while a scorpion’s tail grew from his posterior.

“Dr. Thorn’s a manticore… His card has 3,000 Attack Points and his special ability lets him poison his enemies,” whispered Nico.

With his transformation complete, Dr. Thorn swiped at the area around him using his tail. Annabeth managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid getting hit by the poisonous spines of the manticore’s tail but landed with a yelp as she hit the ground. Upon impact, her cap fell off her head, revealing her position. Annabeth quickly rolled out of the way of Dr. Thorn’s sharp claws while grabbing her cap in the process.

Dr. Thorn then fired one of his spines at Annabeth, who barely managed to avoid it as she hid behind a tree. Before he could fire another one, Percy had managed to run up close to him while he was distracted. Percy swiped at the manticore’s tail, but instead of lopping it off, Riptide bounced off its exoskeleton. Multiple spines suddenly shot out of Dr. Thorn’s tail in retaliation, but Percy managed to avoid becoming a human pincushion by ducking and rolling out of the way.

“You can not hurt me, little demigods. I’ve killed heroes far more experienced than you two. While I would prefer not to kill you, if you choose to throw away your lives, then—”

A stream of water smacked Dr. Thorn across the face, drowning out the rest of his words. Thankfully for Percy, while there weren’t any lakes or rivers to draw water from, the park did have a drinking fountain available. Not ideal, but it was better than nothing. The manticore threw a paw in front of his face to block the stream as he spat out the water. Percy took this as his chance to charge in and slashed at the manticore’s body, but it merely grazed its thick hide.

_“No way! How is this guy so tough?”_

For his trouble, Percy was “rewarded” with a poisonous spine to his left shoulder. He stumbled backwards as his left arm went limp. The paralysis was then followed up by a sharp burning sensation, causing Percy to cry out in pain; it felt as if his shoulder was being branded by a hot iron. Dr. Thorn swiftly turned around and attempted to swipe at the injured demigod, but he had to leap back when a throwing knife was tossed at his face.

 _“Thanks Annabeth… Argh, di immortales! It hurts so much!”_ thought Percy as he clenched his shoulder. He was also debating whether he should pull out the spine or not. Sure, the poison sucked big time, but considering how deeply it was embedded into his shoulder, pulling it out could cause some serious blood loss.

Dr. Thorn growled as he looked for the source of the knife, but Annabeth had already put her cap back on. After seeing how Riptide only barely managed to hurt the manticore, Annabeth had decided to change tactics. While it would be a bad idea to get up close to Dr. Thorn like Percy had done, perhaps she could lure him away from the others by distracting him.

“Nico! Bianca! The two of you should get out of the park right now! Don’t worry about us!” shouted Percy.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Dr. Thorn as he turned his attention towards the di Angelo siblings. “I’ve already called for backup and those Laistrygonian giants have a particular taste for human flesh. If you leave, I can’t guaran—”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

The figure of a gargantuan man, perhaps eight feet tall if Percy had to guess, came hurtling down right in front of a very surprised Dr. Thorn. The giant groaned in pain as he laid down on the ground while coughing up blood and even a couple of teeth.

From a distance, Percy stared on at awe at the source of the giant’s pain. It was Tyson. Apparently, he had broken off the barrel of the park’s replica cannon and used it like a bat to smack the giant away. He did not look so good, well, he looked worse than usual. Tyson was now sporting a giant black eye along with several bruises on his forearms while a trickle of blood was coming out of his mouth.

“Why is there a cyclops here?!” growled Dr. Thorn. For the first time in this entire fight, he seemed to be genuinely worried.

Tyson looked in shock at the spine protruding from Percy’s left shoulder before he noticed Dr. Thorn. His eye quickly noticed that Dr. Thorn’s tail was covered in spines that looked exactly like the one embedded in Percy’s shoulder. It didn’t take him long to establish the connection.

Tyson pointed at Dr. Thorn and screamed, “YOU HURT PERCY!”

Tyson dropped the cannon barrel and charged at the manticore. For a big guy, he was surprisingly fast as he must have cleared nearly 200 feet of distance within only a few seconds. Dr. Thorn snarled and leapt at the cyclops, planning to tear Tyson apart, but that proved to be a big mistake when Tyson punched him directly in the face, sending the manticore flying across the park and into a tree.

Percy was stunned. He had never seen Tyson throw a punch before. Truth be told, he had assumed Tyson had been hiding behind a rock the entire time, in fear of Dr. Thorn. He felt a little guilty about that assumption considering that Tyson had not only just saved them from the manticore, but apparently, he had been beating back the giants as well.

Annabeth took off her cap and shouted, “Percy! Everyone! This is our chance to escape! The manticore’s not going to stay down for long!”

She then took three drachmas out of her pocket and cried out, “Stêthi, ô hárma diabolês!” right before tossing the coins at the park’s footpath.

Instead of bouncing off the asphalt, the drachmas sank into the ground. A few seconds later, a rectangular pool of bubbling, blood-red liquid appeared emerged out of the footpath. Gray smoke billowed out from the liquid as it began to rise and take the form of a car. When the transformation was complete, the liquid seeped back into the ground, revealing a gray taxi cab with the words “Gray Sisters” printed on its side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so there it is, this story's first battle scene! Some of you may notice a certain difference regarding a small detail from the books. There is a reason for that, but it's probably not going to pay off until after this part of the series is finished.


	10. Escape from New York

When the passenger’s window at the front of the cab rolled down, Annabeth immediately ran up to the car and shouted, “We need transport for five passengers to Camp Half-Blood as quickly as you can! I’ll double your pay as soon as we get there, we just need to get out of this park right now!”

The elderly woman on the other side of the window had not been expecting Annabeth’s sense of urgency, but as soon as the words “double your pay” were uttered, she gave the demigod a literally toothless smile and told her to hop in.

“Everybody in, now!” commanded Annabeth before taking a seat. She ended up regretting those words only three seconds later when Tyson took the seat next to hers. Percy, Nico, and Bianca took the seats at the very back. Annabeth was tempted to ask if she could switch seats with Percy, she chose not to considering that every second that passed was another second Dr. Thorn could use to recover.

“Seat belts, everyone!” shouted out the driver before slamming on the accelerator.

The car’s “seat belts” were actually several sets of large black chains that no one besides Annabeth know what to do with. It didn’t matter anyway since none of them had enough time to tie the chains around themselves before the car rocketed away. Nico almost fell out of his seat, and he would have if Percy hadn’t noticed and quickly grabbed his wrist.

“You okay?” asked Percy.

Nico nodded slowly; he seemed to be a little nauseous. Meanwhile, his sister still seemed to be in shock about what just happened; she was looking out the window, oblivious to everyone around her.

Percy then looked over to Tyson and asked him how he was doing.

“Everything hurts, Percy…” groaned the cyclops.

“The infirmary should be able to handle everyone’s wounds, although I don’t think they’ve ever had a cyclops in there before,” muttered Annabeth.

She turned to look at Percy and asked, “Hey, how’s your shoulder doing?”

Percy winced as he looked at the spine still embedded in his shoulder. “It still hurts, but not as bad as before. It used to feel like someone was pouring molten lava all over it, but now it just feels like someone’s burning me with a blowtorch, so I guess that’s progress.”

Hearing that appeared to be enough for Bianca to snap out of her funk.

“Th-thanks for saving us back there, uh, Percy, right? Oh, and the two of you of course. Um, I don’t think I’ve heard your names yet.”

“My name’s Annabeth.”

“I am Tyson!”

Bianca nodded. “Got it. Thanks again. So, what was all that back there? I had no idea that… that Dr. Thorn was a monster. I mean, yeah sometimes he could act monstrous, but…”

“Dr. Thorn was a manticore,” whispered Nico. “A beast with the face of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Its tail is also covered in poisonous quills. They were originally from Persia.”

Percy looked at the younger boy in surprise. “How do you know all that?”

Nico gave Percy a wide grin and said, “My Mythomagic cards! I’ve collected loads of them, including a manticore card! You should—”

Suddenly, all the enthusiasm was drained from the young boy’s face. He gasped in horror.

“Wait! All our stuff is back in Westover Hall, including my cards! We need to go back!”

Bianca nearly jumped out of her seat at this sudden realization. “That’s right! I completely forgot about that! We were only supposed to bring the essentials on this trip. Almost everything we own is back at the academy, including our clothes.”

Annabeth attempted to assuage them. “Please, stay calm. We can’t go back; the manticore is still out there and is still probably working at your school. I’m sorry about your possessions, but at the very least, the camp can provide you two with extra clothes.”

Bianca stared down at her uniform in silence while Nico looked like he was trying to hold back tears. Percy felt bad for the two of them. Sure, the lives they had at Westover Hall were, in some ways, a big lie created by memory manipulation, but to them, that was their reality, and now that reality had just fallen apart. It was up to him and the rest of Camp Half-Blood to pick up the pieces and craft a new life for them.

Percy put his hand over Nico’s shoulder and looked at the two di Angelo siblings.

“I’m… I’m sorry for dragging the both of you into this. Neither of you chose to be demigods—I didn’t choose to be one—none of us did. Life as a demigod is really… It's really… Life as a demigod can really suck. Big time. There are monsters that want to kill you, gods that expect you to do everything for them, and the camp director hates his job and never gets anyone’s name right.”

Annabeth shot Percy a glare. What in the world was he thinking? How was that supposed to be comforting to anyone? Yeah, I know your lives were just ruined, but hey, you’ve got a new life now and it sucks hard! She wanted to say something, but Percy continued.

“But… it’s not all bad. Some of my best memories come from after I was brought to Camp Half-Blood. Before I came to Camp Half-Blood, I… I had never really fit in with other kids. I mean, I don’t know how things were like for you two, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, right?”

Bianca and Nico hesitated at first but nodded.

“Well, Camp Half-Blood is full of other demigods like us, so everyone sort of has had the same experiences. That doesn’t mean everyone will be nice to you…”

Percy thought of Clarisse and the other Ares kids as he said that. He also thought of Luke, which made him feel a little anxious as he remembered how he had been nearly killed by him.

“But you will get to make some great friends there—people who would have your back no matter how bad things look or how stupid the decisions you make are.”

He glanced at Annabeth when he said that—she was trying not to smile too much, but she couldn't help it.

“The food's pretty good too, and Capture the Flag can be pretty fun. I know all of that doesn’t really make up for everything you've lost, but… I’m sure the two of you will have friends who will help you get through this—friends that really understand you and that would fight by your side until the very end.”

Nico looked up to him and asked, “Like you?”

Surprised, Percy’s eyes widened, and he blushed slightly. “I…”

He then looked straight into Nico’s dark brown eyes and grinned. “Sure.”

Percy then heard sniffling at the front of the car. That was when he realized that there were three old ladies driving the car, and not just any old ladies, from the reflection off the rear-view mirror he could see that only one of them had an eye, as in literally one eye, while the rest of their eye sockets were empty.

“Oh! That was so beautiful!” exclaimed one of the old ladies right before she blew her nose on a tissue.

“Yes sister, it was wonderful! Very heartwarming.” said the one with the eye as she wiped away a tear. To Percy’s horror, she was not the one holding the steering wheel.

“Excuse me, but who are you guys, and can you even see?” asked Percy.

The lady with the steering wheel answered, “We are the Gray Sisters! I am Wasp and to my right is Tempest and to her right is Anger. Tempest is the one doing all the seeing today!”

With all the tension coming from the di Angelos now gone, everyone in the car were now acutely aware of how truly chaotic the Gray Sisters’ driving was. Between all the speed bumps, sharp turns, and near collisions, Percy was sure he was going to hurl, that is, if he didn’t die from this car ride first.

“Annabeth! This was your escape plan!? I thought your mom was supposed to be the goddess of wisdom!”

“Percy don’t be rude! The Gray Sisters are the fastest way to camp and they’re actually quite wise,” said Annabeth, although she was looking a little green as well.

“Great,” muttered Bianca. “So now instead of getting mauled by Dr. Thorn, we’re going to die in a car crash.”

“Hey! We haven’t had a car accident in… Hm, how long was it again?” asked Wasp.

“Three months!” said Anger proudly.

“Oh nice! That makes it a new record!” exclaimed Tempest.

Annabeth and Percy both made silent prayers to their parents.

“The girl is right though, we are very wise. We even know many things,” said Anger.

“Yes! Yes! We know many things! We even know the place you have to go to even though you don’t even know it yet!” declared Tempest.

Anger slapped her sister in the face. “Hey! Don’t say that! Remember what happened last time?”

“What are you even talking about? What place?” asked Percy.

“Look at what you’ve done!” shouted Wasp right before she took a hand off the steering wheel smacked Tempest in the face. She had hit her sister so hard that the eyeball popped out of its socket and began to bounce around the car like a rubber ball.

Almost everyone in the car screamed as the eye bounced around. Nico, however, found this very entertaining and reached out to catch the eye as it bounced, much to his sister’s disgust.

“Ew! Nico, give it back to them!” shouted Bianca. She looked away, trying not to vomit.

“It’s so slimy and weird!” said Nico as he gently squished it.

“Nico, give them back their eye! They can’t see without it!” shouted Annabeth.

“Give us the eye, please!” cried out Wasp. In her panic, she had her foot pressed over the accelerator and wouldn’t step off it, meaning that the car was continuously speeding up to a point where if one were to look out the window, they’d just see a mix of blurry colors.

“Hold on,” said Percy with a mischievous grin. “Nico don’t give them the eye back just yet, I want to know what place they’re talking about. Friends stick together even they make stupid decisions, right Nico?”

Nico smiled back and nodded.

Annabeth looked at Percy as if she was going to smack him in the face—she definitely would have if the car seat wasn’t in the way. “Percy, you can’t be serious! This is no time to be a Seaweed Brain! Nico, you should listen to your sister and hand over the eye now!”

The cab made a sharp turn as it narrowly avoided an oncoming truck, only to graze the side of another car. There was a horrible screeching noise of metal sliding across metal, and all of this was enough for Tyson, who had been trying not to speak so he wouldn’t vomit, to lose control of his stomach. Annabeth, Bianca, and all three of the Gray Sisters shrieked when the cyclops threw up inside the car.

Anger screamed, “Okay! Okay! Please, no more! I just cleaned this cab three months ago! 30, 31, 75, 12! That’s all we can say! Now return the eye!”

While Percy wanted to ask them what the numbers meant, he felt guilty for having indirectly made Tyson throw up, so he told Nico to give them back the eye. Thankfully for all of them, Camp Half-Blood was now only three minutes away since the car had been travelling so fast, so at least this wild ride would be over soon.

“Nice going Seaweed Brain,” grumbled Annabeth as she scooched away from Tyson as far as possible.

Bianca shot her brother a death glare while refusing to talk to him, not that he really cared.

As the car slowed down to a more reasonable pace, Percy began to hear several clanging noises followed by a release of steam.

“Hey, does anyone else hear that?”

Annabeth closed her eyes so she could focus on the noise. “Sounds like—”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because the car was suddenly smacked from behind, causing everyone to scream. When Percy turned around to see what had hit them, he saw the head of a mechanical bull with glowing red eyes.

_"Of course, more monsters… This day just keeps getting worse..."_


	11. The Running of the Bulls

“No, no, no! Our insurance policy doesn’t cover collisions with mechanical bulls!” Tempest screamed. In a panic, she began to tear fistfuls of her own hair out.

“Just take us to Half-Blood Hill, we’re almost there already! It won’t be able to get through the barrier!” shouted Annabeth.

The bull attempted to use its horns to flip the car over, but Wasp slammed her foot down on the accelerator just in time, making it miss. In addition, a cloud of thick black smoke was released from the car’s tailpipe, coating the bull’s head with a thin layer of soot. It bellowed out in anger as it stopped to shake the soot off.

Everyone in the car breathed a sigh of relief as the bull was slowly disappearing into the horizon. Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the only bull in the area.

When Tyson turned to look out the window, he could see a figure gleaming underneath the sunlight, rapidly approaching the car from the southeast.

“Curses! This thing’s busted now!” cried out Wasp as she was stomping on the accelerator. Apparently, the car’s engine was now starting to give out after too many uses of the accelerator. As the car started to slow down, Tyson could see the figure coming closer and closer, up until the point at which he could see it had horns.

“Evil cow!” he screamed while pointing at the window.

“I can’t take it anymore!” yelled out Anger. “There’s too many passengers in this car! It’s weighing us down too much!”

Tempest agreed. “Yes sister, we must throw someone out! I think we should get rid of the cyclops! He’s the biggest!”

Percy immediately jumped to Tyson’s defense. He was angry that they’d even suggest it.

“What?! No, you can’t do that! That’s not fair!”

“You’re right,” said Wasp as she slammed down on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop a few dozen meters away from Half-Blood Hill. “That’s why we’re going to kick you all out!”

Before anyone could object to this, Wasp pressed a button on the dashboard, popping open the passenger doors. Within seconds, the passenger seats extended outwards over the asphalt road and flipped over, dumping everyone out, before retracting back into the car.

“Sorry, but no amount of extra pay is worth all this!” exclaimed Tempest right before the doors closed. The Gray Sisters then proceeded to drive off the road with the simple goal of getting as far away from Camp Half-Blood as quickly as possible.

As the group of five started picking themselves back up, now with newfound scrapes and bruises, they could hear the bellowing of the second mechanical bull as was still charging in their direction.

Annabeth grabbed her knife and said, “Bianca. Nico. Camp Half-Blood is really close by. Once you two get over the top of that hill, you’ll be safe. We’ll deal with the bulls. Go!”

Bianca simply nodded—she was still a little rattled from having been forcibly ejected out of the car. Even though Nico wanted to see the fight, he didn’t pull away from his sister when she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the hill. He did, however, give Percy a quick wave goodbye.

“Percy, are you sure you don’t want to go to the infirmary?” asked Annabeth.

He shook his head. “No, I’m alright. Besides, I think Tyson’s in worse shape than I am. Shouldn’t you be asking him that instead?”

Annabeth was going to say something until the sound of clanging metal redirected her attention back to the mechanical bull. Percy also turned around to look at the bull as he took out Riptide. Now that there wasn’t a car window in the way, he could truly see how massive this thing was—it was a hulking bronze beast that must have weighed several tons. The three of them could feel the ground beneath them shake as it charged right at them.

However, instead of smacking into the trio, it chose to suddenly stop when it was only a few meters away from them. All three of them were confused by this sudden change in behavior, but as soon as it opened its furnace-like mouth, Annabeth’s eyes widened in realization.

“We need to retreat! That’s a Colchis bull!”

Even though Percy had no idea what a Colchis bull was, he still took Annabeth’s advice and ran after her. Tyson also tried to follow them, however, apparently, he hadn’t completely recovered from the car ride because he ended up tripping one some dirt. When Percy looked over his shoulder to check on the cyclops, he could only look on in horror when a stream of fire erupted from the bull’s mouth, smothering Tyson in flames.

“Tyson!” he screamed as the smell of burning grass filled the air.

Percy looked around desperately for a source of water he could manipulate, but it turned out that he didn’t need to worry about Tyson after all. When bull closed its mouth and stopped the stream of fire, Tyson was miraculously unscathed, much to Percy’s confusion. There was no time for relief, however, as the other bull that had been chasing them had now found its way near their location.

“Percy, he’ll be fine!” shouted Annabeth from the top of the hill. “Honestly, he probably has a better chance of fighting them than we do! Cyclopes are known for working in the extremely hot forges of the gods!”

That’s when someone else decided to chime in.

“Oh look, it seems like little Miss Princess here is running scared! I guess last year’s quest couldn’t have been too tough if you were on it.”

Percy groaned when he recognized that voice.

_“Just great, of course the person coming to help us has to be Clarisse of all people…”_

Annabeth shot Clarisse a glare, but truthfully, she was somewhat glad to see her. Well, maybe not her specifically, but rather the fact that apparently, she was leading some kind of hunting party. Clarisse’s group contained a total of ten people, her included, and all of them were decked out with a full suit of bronze battle armor, an aspis, and a celestial bronze spear.

Meanwhile, back at the base of the hill, Tyson was now grappling with one of the Colchis bulls after it attempted to knock him over. Percy took this as his chance to run over to the bull and slice its side. As he got closer to the bull, he noticed the air around him getting progressively hotter.

Surprisingly enough, apparently the bull’s metal coating wasn’t as tough as the manticore’s coat of fur because he managed to leave a big vertical cut on its left side. He almost regretted it though when a massive burst of searing-hot steam erupted from the wound. While Percy was lucky to have jumped back quickly enough to not touch the steam directly, he could still feel beads of sweat start to form on his face just by being near it.

“Hey, is that you Prissy? I guess it was your stink that brought these monsters to camp!” said Clarisse with a sneer after passing by Annabeth.

Percy normally would have fired an insult right back at her, but since he was still preoccupied with the rampaging beast in front of him. That cut Percy gave the bull had infuriated it, and now it was bucking around wildly to remove Tyson’s grip from its horns. The son of Poseidon hesitated as he wasn’t sure if he should attempt another attack—there was a high chance that he’d either get smacked around by either the bull’s hind legs or Tyson’s flailing body if he tried getting close to them.

As for the other bull, Clarisse’s squad, in all their shiny armaments, seemed to have attracted its attention. It turned to charge at her and the other campers, much to her delight.

 _“Perfect,”_ she thought. _“This stupid thing wants to charge up the hill_ — _an easy kill.”_

“Everyone, phalanx formation now!” commanded Clarisse as she readied herself for impact.

The other campers strictly did what they were told, lest they suffer the daughter of Ares’ wrath later, and lined their shields slightly over one another’s in the direction of the charging bull while readying their spears to strike. Clarisse, of course, put herself in the middle of the formation, right in the path of the bull itself. If anyone was getting the lion’s share of the glory, it would be her.

Annabeth couldn’t believe what she was seeing. First, somehow this bull was making its way across the barrier, and second, Clarisse was basically setting up her squad to get knocked down like a row of bowling pins.

“Clarisse, are you out of your mind?!” she screamed. “That bull, uphill advantage or no, is going to pulverize your formation! It’s too strong! You’re going to—!”

“Shut up you coward!” shouted Clarisse as she tightened the grip on her spear. “This is my battle, and I don’t need your advice! So why don’t you—!”

The Colchis bull plowed right into the phalanx right before Clarisse could finish her sentence. Just as Annabeth predicted, it sent all the campers, Clarisse included, flying across the hill as if they were bowling pins. She did, however, manage to land a hit on the bull before being smacked away. Her spear had pierced right through the bottom of its neck and out the other end. Unfortunately for the daughter of Ares, her spear was now stuck in the mechanical beast.

* * *

Back at the base of the hill, the other Colchis bull had managed to throw Tyson off its horns after the cyclops got too dizzy to hold on any longer. Before it could stomp all over him, Percy rushed over and sliced one of its hind legs off, causing it to fall over now that it was off-balance. Despite that setback, this didn’t stop the bull from continuing to fight. It flopped over and angled its mouth at Percy.

Percy leapt out of the way before he could be incinerated, but this bull seemed to be hell-bent on burning him alive. Every time he dodged the flames, the bull would just reangle itself and shoot another stream of fire at him only a few seconds later. Percy coughed and wheezed as a mixture of hot air and smoke were now filling his lungs. Every subsequent dodge had become more taxing than the last with no escape in sight.

_“Damn, I can’t… keep this up much longer…”_

As Percy continued to struggle, Tyson slowly picked himself back up. His vision was blurry, and his muscles ached as he tried to move. Considering how much of a beating he had taken throughout this entire day, it was impressive that he could still stand. He let out a pained cry as he looked down at his hands—they were red and swollen, and the skin on his palms had been partially peeled off.

After rolling out of the way of another stream of fire, Percy coughed up some phlegm over what was left of the grassy field—it was black thanks to all the smoke he had breathed in. The sound of him coughing was enough to get Tyson’s attention, and when he saw Percy hunched over on the dirt, clearly in distress, it was as if he received a shot of adrenaline. The cyclops ran at the bull as fast as his legs could take him and delivered a kick to its head, causing the bull’s next stream of fire to miss Percy.

“BAD COW! VERY BAD COW!” he screamed as he repeatedly stomped on the bull’s head, turning its face into a Picasso painting with all the dents he was making.

Unfortunately for him, the Colchis bull was incredibly resilient, even in the face of an angry cyclops. As Tyson was about to bring his foot down on its face once more, the bull whirred its head around and caught the cyclops’ ankle with its mouth. While it didn’t have any teeth, it did its best to clamp down hard on Tyson’s leg, causing the cyclops to scream in pain.

It was now Percy’s turn to come to Tyson’s rescue. After regaining his breath, he leapt at the bull with Riptide drawn over his head and slashed downwards, decapitating it. Tyson fell over as the bull turned into golden dust, but at least his foot was still attached to his leg.

* * *

Percy and Tyson hadn’t been the only ones struggling. When the phalanx had been sent flying after the bull, one of the campers’ shields landed right next to Annabeth. She quickly grabbed it for herself and banged her knife against it to get the bull’s attention.

“Hey! Why don’t you come over here, ugly?!”

While she didn’t actually think the bull was ugly, it was a creation of the god of forges, Hephaestus, himself after all, she did want to get its attention away from the wounded campers. The bull looked at her, as if acknowledging her challenge, and released two jets of steam from its nostrils. Before it could charge at her, Annabeth sheathed her dagger and took out her cap.

As soon as it began running at her, she put her cap on and turned invisible, much to the bull’s confusion. Suddenly, a cut appeared on its backside. The bull immediately whipped itself around and attempted to breathe fire, but only steam came out of its mouth.

“Stop trying to steal my kill! I never asked for your help!” growled Clarisse. Fueled by her anger, she was the first one out of her entire squad to recover from the bull’s charge. While her spear was still stuck in the bull’s neck, she still had her shield, and that was enough for her to jump right back into the fight.

“This isn’t Capture the Flag, Clarisse! I’m not trying to steal anything!” shouted an exasperated Annabeth.

Clarisse, in a stunning display of bravery and recklessness, charged at the bull uppercutted it with her shield using as much force as she could muster. She then reached out for her spear, so she could yank it out of the bull’s neck, but Annabeth tackled her to the ground right before the bull could blast her with a burst of superhot steam.

The daughter of Ares was now red in the face. “Stop getting in my way!”

Annabeth didn’t respond—it was useless to argue with someone as stubborn as Clarisse.

After getting back up, she yelled out, “Everyone better get up right now! Get your butts off the ground right now and stab this thing!”

Groans could be heard across the top of the hill as the other campers forced themselves off the ground. All of them were now scrambling to pick up any dropped equipment, although one guy was muttering to himself about not being able to find his shield.

The bull seemed to have recognized that it was now surrounded as it turned around in every direction, only to find another camper. It huffed as it watched the campers slowly approaching it, spears at the ready. With no possibility of escape, there was only one thing it could do: go on a rampage.

It charged right into the shield of one camper, sending him flying across the hill, then used its hind legs to kick another. Two other campers rushed at the bull and stabbed its midsection from opposite sides, but the mechanical beast bolted as soon as the spears pierced it, taking the two campers with it—they yelped as they were dragged across the grass in a circular path.

“Give me that!” snarled Clarisse as she snatched a spear out of the hands of the camper that lost his shield. That guy really couldn’t catch a break today. She waited until she saw the bull turning to her direction and chucked it. The spear went right into the middle of its snout, creating a third nostril.

While the bull was surprised, Annabeth rushed up to it and jammed her knife through its right eye socket, shattering the ruby within. When its eye was destroyed, the bull shook its head wildly and bellowed out in distress. All this movement caused Clarisse’s spear to get dislodged from its neck.

Clarisse quickly ran up to the bull and picked her spear off the ground—the spear’s tip crackled with electricity as soon as she touched it. She let out a battle cry as she jammed it straight through the bull’s forehead. It shuddered for a moment, as if it couldn't comprehend its own death, until it too turned into golden dust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope this battle scene wasn't too confusing since it's sort of split into two separate fights taking place near the same location. I know there was barely any Nico in this chapter, but don't worry. I have a fairly big update planned this Sunday that will hopefully make up for it.


	12. Speculation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, let me just say I'm really sorry for the late update! Basically, I don't want to go into too much detail, but something came up over the weekend and right now I probably won't be able to update for at least another 10 days since I'm going to be out of the country. I didn't want to leave you all with no update at all though, so while I know this update isn't nearly as massive as I had originally planned, I hope it can at least fill the void until I come back. I'll try and see if I can find the time to update before then, but unfortunately I can't guarantee that. Sorry everyone.

“Why are you and Percy even here? I could have handled these bulls by myself!” growled Clarisse while doing a quick inspection of her spear for any signs of damage.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. This was probably the closest they would ever get to having the Clarisse acknowledge their help, not that she cared what the Daughter of Ares thought of her.

“Percy and I were escorting two demigods, a pair of siblings, to Camp Half-Blood. You and your squad should have past them by on your way here.”

“Oh, those two?” said Clarisse with a sneer. “Oh, you mean the ones that looked like they just came straight out of military school? Awfully scrawny looking though. I guess some schools are just desperate for new recruits. They wouldn’t have lasted a day in my squad.”

Annabeth resisted the urge to tell the other girl how her squad hadn’t been doing all too great against the bull, although she blamed Clarisse’s reckless command for their poor performance more than anyone else. Sure, as individual warriors, Ares kids were among the best due to their strength and their boldness, but they almost always neglected the tactical and strategic layer of battles in favor of using overwhelming power to win the day.

“Hey Annabeth!” shouted Percy from below the crest of the hill. “Tyson can’t get past the barrier!”

Tyson groaned as he pushed against the barrier with as much strength as he could muster with his battered body. His face was red and covered in sweat, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t get past the barrier.

“Hold on,” said Annabeth. “I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter the camp!”

Suddenly, Tyson fell over onto the other side of the barrier, grunting as soon as he faceplanted onto the grass. Percy outstretched a hand to help him up, which was a nice gesture, but unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly strong enough to support the weight of a six-foot-tall cyclops. When Tyson grabbed his hand and pulled, the Son of Poseidon ended up getting dragged down right next to him.

“Oops. Sorry Percy,” was all Tyson could say about that.

“It’s okay…” groaned the male demigod.

Clarisse was about to laugh and make fun of them until she noticed Tyson’s one eye. She tensed up, readied her spear, and shouted, “Hey! Neither of you two said anything about bringing a cyclops here! What are you planning to do with him?!”

Percy pushed himself off the ground and said, “Don’t worry about him. He’s friendly.”

_“Unlike a certain someone I know…”_

“Wait a minute…” said Annabeth as she looked at where the invisible boundary line was supposed to be. “Tyson wasn’t able to get through the barrier, but that bull managed to get through without any problems. How is that possible?”

Clarisse frowned. “So, you two haven’t heard. Just take a good look at the pine tree and you’ll find out why.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened. It made sense. Thalia’s pine tree was responsible for providing the barrier around Camp Half-Blood, so if the barrier wasn’t working properly, that meant…

She quickly turned her gaze towards the direction of the tree. Even from a distance, she could see that something wasn’t right. The tree’s branches were now covered in yellow and brown pine needles instead of the usual green. The pine needles had never changed color before, no matter what season it was. In addition, a large pile of dead pine needles now blanketed the base of the tree. It was normal for some needles to fall off the tree, but the wind would always blow them away before they could accumulate like this, meaning that needles were now falling off the tree at a much faster rate.

Annabeth ran up to the tree for a closer inspection. There were large cracks running across the tree bark. She soon discovered a small puncture mark located on the middle of the tree trunk. A dark green sap oozed from the hole, giving off a faint odor of sulfur. It was clear to her that this tree was dying.

“Thalia… No…” she whispered while placing a hand over the most intact section of tree bark she could find. “H-How could this have happened? Who could have done this?”

Clarisse had already left with her squad as soon as Annabeth headed for the tree, so Percy and Tyson were the only ones still around. The Son of Poseidon couldn’t help but wonder if Alecto had known about the camp’s situation before telling him to get the di Angelos to Camp Half-Blood. Without a barrier, Camp Half-Blood would basically become a free all-you-can-eat buffet for monsters.

“Chiron… Chiron’s got to have a plan…” muttered Annabeth. She was trying to rationalize the situation in an effort to calm herself down, although there was still a sense of desperation in her voice. “There must be something that can heal the tree… Thalia can’t… She can’t…”

“I’m sure he’s working on it right now,” said Percy. “If you want, we can go talk to him right after we get treated at the infirmary. I kind of wanted to ask him something myself.”

Annabeth nodded slowly and then gently rubbed her eyes before turning away from the tree.

“Did you want to ask him about… the di Angelos?”

Percy had been taken by surprise by how Annabeth seemed to have read his mind, but on second thought, there was a fair amount of mystery surrounding the two anyway, especially when it came to who their parents were. It was as if there was a concentrated effort to prevent the di Angelos from finding their identities.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m happy that we’ve managed to keep them safe so far, but I also want them to get their memories back. It just feels like there’s someone behind the scenes trying to keep them from finding out the truth. Their godly parent maybe?”

Annabeth didn’t answer him immediately. She seemed to be deep in thought, although every so often she looked back towards the tree. Percy couldn’t tell what was possibly going through her mind now, but at one point he caught a glance at her steely gray eyes—there was a certain newfound intensity in them.

Of course, it wasn’t like he had never seen her getting passionate before. Her eyes shined brightly whenever she started to talk at length about architecture (even when Percy and Grover weren’t paying attention, which was often), but this was different. Looking at her now, he was reminded of those police dramas he’d sometimes watch, specifically the part right when the detective was about to catch the killer. Then, in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, her right eye twitched and she bit her lip (okay, so technically that was two moments).

Percy looked at her in anticipation. It seemed clear to him that she had worked something out, but for some reason she was hesitating, perhaps even scared, to say what was on her mind.

“Well, did you figure out something?”

Annabeth brought a hand over her forehead, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

“I… forget it, Percy. There’s not enough evidence yet to make a proper conclusion.”

“Just tell me,” said the Son of Poseidon. There was a slight sense of irritation in his voice that he hadn’t meant to use, but he really wanted to know what she had come up with.

Annabeth sighed. She could feel her heart rate starting to pick up. The theory that she had crafted in her mind frightened her, and yet, it seemed like such a shame to toss it into a mental garbage can.

“Alright, but I want you to know that I’ve only just thought this up on the spot and I haven’t had nearly enough time to properly think it over. So…”

She took a deep breath.

“I think it makes sense that the one responsible for their lost memories is their Olympian parent. Think about it. Who else would have the power to alter memories like that? In addition, when they left the hotel, they disappeared, but when we found them again, apparently, they had never encountered a monster up until today when we told them that they were demigods. Well, unless those memories were wiped too, but either way, I think it’s safe to say that someone was watching over them and keeping them safe from monsters. However, why would any of the gods go through such lengths to hide the truth about their parentage?”

Percy’s eyes widened when he realized what Annabeth was suggesting.

“Unless they had a good reason to hide their existence…”

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

“Right, and the only ones that would have a reason to do that would be members of the Big Three. However, I think we can rule out Poseidon already since I don’t think it makes sense that he’d stuff them in a hotel while you got to live with your mom, so that just leaves Zeus and Hades.”

The two demigods quickly looked around their surroundings, as if expecting a sudden burst of lightning across the sky or a monster to pop out of nowhere, but nothing happened, much to their relief. Meanwhile, Tyson had no idea what the two of them were talking about. He was just lying down on the grass, waiting patiently for the two of them to finish talking, because Half-Blood Hill is actually quite a pleasant place when there were no fire-breathing mechanical bulls trying to kill you.

Annabeth continued. “And I think it’s kind of suspicious that one of the Kindly Ones just suddenly showed up at your school and told you to take the di Angelos to Camp Half-Blood when the camp is in a major crisis. I don’t know if they knew about the manticore working at Westover Hall, but there will be far more monsters than a single manticore hanging around the camp in only a few more weeks if the tree…”

She gulped, but quickly regained her composure.

“If… If the tree dies. Perhaps putting them at risk was the goal.”

Percy furrowed his brow and asked, “Wait, so you think Alecto planned for me to get them killed?”

Annabeth was taken aback when she accidentally got caught in the fury present in Percy’s eyes. Most times, whenever she caught a glimpse of Percy’s sea green eyes, they reminded her of a calm ocean tide, which reflected the Son of Poseidon’s carefree nature. However, the very idea that one of the Furies would use him to get others killed had ignited a storm within him. In that moment, he looked a lot like…

The Daughter of Athena chose to direct her gaze towards the grass instead.

“Hm… Maybe. I have no idea how much information the Kindly Ones or their master, Hades, would have on Camp Half-Blood, but it would seem strange for a parent to actively put their kids in a dangerous situation. At least, not unless there was something to gain from it. I don’t think there’s much to gain from putting an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old in harm’s way when they have no fighting skills whatsoever.”

Now the two of them were getting into really dangerous territory.

“So,” said Percy as he cautiously looked up at the sky. “Are you suggesting that Nico and Bianca’s dad is… Zeus?”

“I… I think…”

Annabeth hesitated. However, it was not because she was afraid of suddenly being struck by lightning, but rather, doubt was now starting to settle in her mind. The two of them were missing pieces to this puzzle.

“Honestly, I don’t know… I guess if they were children of Zeus, Hades would want them dead like… like Thalia… They don’t really remind me of Thalia though. I mean, all three of them have black hair, but that’s about it when it comes to similarities.”

Percy didn’t press her any further. Frankly, he felt lucky to still be alive after all that speculation. The king of the gods didn’t need any more reason to want him dead. It was about time they headed to the infirmary anyways.

* * *

Camp Half-Blood’s infirmary was in a building known as the Big House, which, as the name implied, was a big house. When Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson made their way to the Big House, they were surprised to see Nico and Bianca waiting for them on the deck.

“You’re here!” shouted Nico excitedly. “How did the fight with the bull go?”

The Son of Poseidon gave the younger boy a grin and said, “Well, all of us are still alive so I’d say it went pretty well. Besides, what are the two of you still doing here? Were the two of you waiting for us the whole time?”

Bianca answered, but she didn’t seem nearly as pleased as Nico had been to see them. Her arms were crossed, and while she wasn’t exactly glaring at Percy, he felt like he was being judged.

“When we got to camp, some other campers brought us here to get our cuts and bruises treated. One of the healers gave us something to drink and after a minute, we were all better. Then one of the campers offered to show us around camp, but Nico insisted on waiting for you, which is why I’ve been stuck waiting here with him for the past forty minutes in the summer heat.”

“Yeah, well they’re here now, aren’t they?” said Nico defensively.

Percy brought a hand over his nape and massaged it nervously.

He sighed. “I didn’t know you were waiting for us, although the two of you could have just waited inside… Sorry I guess. If you want, we can talk inside the infirmary. I’ve been literally aching to get this manticore spine out of my shoulder for the past hour. There’s someone I want you two to meet after this anyway, so maybe it was a good thing you two waited for us.”

Nico and Bianca agreed to follow them, and all five of them made their way to the infirmary. However, there was a bit of a commotion when Tyson walked in the room. It took a while for Percy (and a reluctant Annabeth that just wanted to get this over with, so she could talk to Chiron) to calm everyone down and convince them that Tyson was a friendly cyclops who only hurt other monsters.

“I didn’t know Tyson was a cyclops! That’s so cool!” exclaimed Nico. “I thought he was a demigod like you two.”

Bianca also seemed to have been surprised by this, and the two siblings were now staring at Tyson’s face. The cyclops blushed in response to receiving all this attention.

Percy chuckled at this. “Well, at least now I know I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t tell he was a cyclops at first.” One of the healers, an Apollo kid he didn’t recognize, then came by and brought him over to a chair for treatment. Another healer came to Annabeth with a small cup filled with nectar while yet a third healer led Tyson over to a bed.

“I don’t think this is quite the same, Seaweed Brain,” said Annabeth right before taking a small sip of nectar. “They’ve only known about the existence of the Greek gods for a few hours, plus he’s been your classmate for months without noticing. That’s a whole new level of obliviousness.”

Percy blushed slightly. He was going to say something in response to defend himself, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a cube of ambrosia was popped straight into his mouth, shutting him up prematurely. The healer then informed him that they were going to start pulling out the quill from his shoulder, which he could only nod in response to.

“Hey, Percy! Can I keep the manticore spine when you’re done?” asked Nico.

“Uh, dude, do you seriously want that? Even though it’s covered in my blood? I mean, sure I guess, even though that’s kind of weird… It’s not like I need it.”

Unfortunately for Nico, the healer told him that he couldn’t have the manticore spine since it went against the infirmary’s official policy of handling monster parts covered in bodily fluids, and that it would have to be burned instead. Percy winced as the spine was pulled out of his shoulder. Once that was done, the healer told him to pull up his sleeve so that they could clean the wound.

“Oh! I want to see!” said Nico right before he rushed to Percy’s side. When he got there, he could see that the Son of Poseidon’s shoulder had the same color as split pea soup, and it was partially stained with streaks of blood. In other words, it was totally gross, and Nico was fascinated by it.

“Wow, you like all this blood and guts type of stuff, don’t you? Be careful. If you get too close, I might squirt blood all over you,” said Percy playfully. This got him a grin from Nico.

The healer then informed the two of them that that was rather unlikely since the manticore spine hadn’t punctured any arteries or veins that would create the amount of blood pressure necessary for that to happen. Gods, what a buzzkill.

As the healer started to wash off the bloodstains, Nico asked Percy a question.

“Do you get into fights with monsters a lot?”

Percy snorted.

“More like the monsters get into fights with me. If they left us alone, then I’d leave them alone, cause if it were up to me, I’d rather have a zero percent chance of getting used as a monster chew toy. Sometimes monsters attack demigods because they have a grudge against our parents. It’s not fair, but that’s why we have to learn how to fight them.”

“I want to learn how to fight too! Oh yeah, I saw you controlling the water when you were fighting Dr. Thorn! Does this mean your dad is Poseidon? Is that why Annabeth calls you Seaweed Brain?”

Percy face was now even redder than before. He could hear the daughter of Athena coughing in the background. She had been in the middle of sipping some nectar until Nico’s question made her laugh. When she stopped coughing, Bianca handed her a handkerchief, which reminded Percy of the first time he met the di Angelos. He wondered if Nico still like pomegranate-flavored soda.

“Um… Yes, and yes. My dad is Poseidon, which is why she sometimes calls me… Seaweed Brain…”

“Wow, you’re lucky to have such a cool god for a dad! Do you know which god is my dad then? Bianca and I always thought our parents were both dead since we used to live in an orphanage before we were taken to Westover Hall. I hope he’s someone cool like Poseidon!”

“No, sorry, I don’t know. You have to wait until you get claimed. You seem to be very certain that your dad’s a god though. How come?”

He thought back to his previous conversation with Annabeth. Honestly, while her idea did seem somewhat plausible, Zeus and Nico looked nothing alike, and they certainly didn’t share any personality traits. How could this extremely excitable 11-year-old possibly be the son of the pompous king of the gods?

“I… I guess my mom could have been the goddess instead,” said Nico, although he didn’t seem entirely convinced about that possibility. “I never really knew about either of my parents. The orphanage didn’t have any pictures of them, and they didn’t even know their names.”

Percy could see Nico’s eyes starting to get misty, and for a moment, the older boy was worried that he had just accidentally made him cry by making him to relive some painful (false?) memories. He groaned internally as his mind raced to find a way to distract the younger boy from those negative thoughts.

“Oh, um, Nico, I’ve answered some of your questions about me, so why don’t you answer some of mine? It’s only fair,” he said with a gentle smile.

_“Wait a minute… Didn’t I technically just ask him a question before?”_

“Sure, but I don’t know what you’d want to know about me. Westover Hall kind of sucks. Oh, but I can tell you a lot about Mythoma—!”

Before Nico could introduce Percy to the wonderful world of Mythomagic, Annabeth rushed over to Percy and tapped on his other shoulder. When the Son of Poseidon turned to face her, he could see concern all over her face. Jeez, Mythomagic couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“Percy, I just asked one of the healers if Chiron was in his office right now. They told me…”

She stumbled backwards a little. The very idea of what she was about to say made her nauseous.

“Chiron… He's been suspended as activities director and he's currently under investigation for conspiring to poison Thalia’s tree.”


End file.
